The Ocean's Cinderella
by randomlyrite
Summary: a typical Cinderella story, from rags to... cutlasses! Tsukimi leaves her hometown with Luffy, in the hopes of finding out where she came from. an OC story!
1. Finding a home

hi! new story here! :3 I've recently started watching One Piece and have fallen in love with it~ and inspiration struck me to write this story, I hope you'll like it! read on and tell me what you think by review! ;D

I don't own One Piece, only my character Tsukimi :)

* * *

It feels like decades have past by since I got to this town, but depressingly, it's only been 9 years since "Red-Haired" Shanks dropped me off here, after finding me out in the ocean, asleep on a raft.

After that I was pawned off on whatever villager would take me, sadly the only volunteer was the old hag who I am forced to call mother.

Anyway, the day she took me in, I was shoved into the cellar, handed a needle and thread and told that I had to work for my keep. I was only 7.

I'm 16 now and I'm still at work every day, sewing till I can't even feel my fingers anymore; I've sewn dresses, sails, shirts, quilts and even a tapestry once. All of which, the old hag passes off as her own work, and sells them for a massive profit.

Sighing, I put down the material and needle, and look down dismally at my own clothing. They could easily be mistaken as old rags, the tattered shirt beyond repair, and the torn skirt that I had to hold up with a rope. They were both grey and stained with my blood, sweat and dirt.

I couldn't steal material to make new clothing because then 'Mother' would probably end up hitting me again. Numerous scars lined my body from her previous attacks. She'd flip out over stupid things, like me leaving the kettle on, or, us being short of money, she'd hit me with her fists, or whatever object was closest to her. She'd beat me until I was borderline unconscious and then would throw me down into the basement again.

But it's all going to be okay. Soon, he'll come for me and we'll go away like he promised.

I still remember how I met him, my best friend...

It was the day Red-Haired Shanks brought me into this town; we left the ship at the docks and walked to the tavern. I was looking around in a daze; all of the scenery and buildings were new to me.

A heavy pat on my head shook me out of my thoughts.

"You better get used to it, Tsukimi," Shanks told me with a slightly sad smile. "This is where we're leaving you."

I frowned and nodded slowly, this didn't seem like such a bad place; after all, they didn't mind the pirates being here.

Halfway along the roads we were greeted by the sight of a crowd of people.

Hearing shouting from the middle of the crowd. Shanks frowned; he picked me up and handed me over to Yussop.

"Stay here with him; we'll go see what's going on." He told me with a light smirk, before pushing his way through the crowd. Moments passed and a few more shouts echoed out, before a gunshot was fired.

Placing me gently on the ground, Yussop ran off to join his crew, leaving me alone on the road.

I frowned. My curiosity was burning; I tugged on the scarf wrapped around my hair nervously. Could I sneak over there and see what was going on without being noticed?

I decided to give it a shot. I tiptoed around the quickly dispersing crowds, to see an evil looking man with his foot on a young boy. Shanks and his crew were in the midst of a battle, which soon ended.

"But... The brat started it!" The evil man protested.

"It doesn't matter," Shanks muttered darkly. "There's a price on your head, isn't there?" He smirked.

The evil man's face exploded with rage and he looked around nervously, before spotting me.

He grabbed me sharply by the arm and tugged the young boy up, holding us in front of him like a human shield.

He pulled out a gun and held it to my head. "Let me go or I'll shoot her!" He crowed victoriously.

The pirates faltered and the evil man ran down the road, tugging us with him.

He dumped us in a boat and rowed away from shore quickly. The little boy looked at me with frightened eyes, but I could only return his stare impassively. I honestly wasn't frightened, and after all there was nothing out here that could hurt me.

"I brought you along as hostages," The evil man muttered. "But I have no use for you now, I already killed 56 people who made me mad." He grinned manically. "What's two more?" He cackled before kicking the boy into the water.

He then grabbed me by the head, causing my scarf to fall off and revealing my abnormal trait, my cerulean blue hair, which whipped around now free in the wind.

I saw the boy drowning near, and leaving the speechless man, I dived into the water after him.

I dove deep down, my gills opening up again and my legs twitching as they shifted into my tail. I held my hand out to him, and once he grabbed it I propelled us up to the surface with one swift flick of my tail.

As we reached the surface we gasped at the angry sea serpent that was growling at the evil man in the boat, it opened up its huge jaws and in one smooth bite, ate the evil man and destroyed the boat.

Its attention soon turned to us from the recently destroyed boat, as it lunged at us I closed my eyes waiting for the pain.

It never came; instead I felt a hand pull me to someone's body. Slowly opening my eyes I quickly regretted it: Shanks had appeared and saved us, taking the blow from the sea serpent on his left side.

"Get out of here!" He growled at the sea serpent, glaring at it with evil eyes. The beast quickly got the message and swam away quickly.

I stared at Shanks' left side and the spot where his arm was supposed to be: seeing the blood in the water around us I promptly passed out.

When I woke up, it was the morning of the next day and a young girl was sitting by my bedside.

"Shanks told me to give you their best wishes, before they left." She told me softly.

I scowled bitterly. "Well he can man up and say it to me himself!" I stood up and ran as fast as I could out of the house, running down the road until I reached the docks and saw the departing ship.

I cursed before diving into the water, my legs shifted into my tail again and I was soon speeding through the water. "Oi!" I screamed out as I reached their boat. "Say goodbye properly!" I hissed, tears threatening to fall down my face.

Shanks' surprised face peered down at me from the rails of the ship. "What the hell are you doing?" he yelled down at me.

My scowl deepened. "At least I'm brave enough to say goodbye properly," I told him with an irate flick of my tail.

His face creased with laughter. "Okay then," He chuckled before his face turned serious again. "This better be quick or you won't be able to swim back to shore."

"I wish I didn't have to go back" I said bitterly, hiding my face in the waves, before smiling brightly up at Shanks. "Thank you though," I told him softly. "If you hadn't of found me, who knows what would've happened?" My face creased up with sadness and I turned away to hide my tears. "Goodbye then," I forced out, swimming back to the island.

"I'll see you around, Tsukimi!" I heard him call behind me cheerfully

Now smiling widely, I swam slowly back to shore, flopping up on the beach. I frowned as I realised I had to wait for my tail to dry out and transform back into legs.

Lying there I eventually heard footsteps behind me, and rolled over to see the little boy from before.

His eyes turned into stars as he saw me. "So cool!" He cooed. "You're a mermaid!" He questioned excitedly, staring avidly at my tail.

I laughed. "I'm not sure actually, the only thing I can remember from my past is my name! Tsukimi!" I tilted my head curiously. "What're you called?"

He laughed loudly, grinned widely as he told me. "My name's Monkey D. Luffy and I'm gonna be the king of the pirates!"

I'm not sure if it was because I was 7, or because I was still in shock from the recent events, but I know that even then, I believed in him fully.

And now he's promised to come here as soon as he gets a boat, and we're going to go out on an adventure together, as pirates.

* * *

thank you for reading! please take the time to review! x :)


	2. we're off?

Hi again! thank you so much for reviewing and story alerting this story!

juliedoo: thank you! I would love to add someone to the character slots, but I'm still undecided on parings, thank you for the advice though! I will probably get around to doing it at some point in the future :D

now on with the story!

disclaimer: I do not own one piece, or at least, I didn't the last time I checked...

OH also! this is the unedited version, my amazing beta is still going over this, but I got bored and felt like updating anyway, so I'll probably upload a better version in a few days!

* * *

It's the middle of summer now, and 'Mother' sends me out on chores, so that she, the lazy old hag she is. Won't have to move from the sofa.

Walking down the road to the fish monger I swing my basket and hum happily, everything today is wonderful!

-DONK- I feel an object hit the side of my head, rubbing the spot; I turn around looking curiously for the source, but seeing nothing I sigh and go to walk on again.

"PSST! Kimi!" someone unsubtly calls me.

My face lights up as I recognise the voice, and I spin round and jump into his arms, laughing happily

"Where have you been!" I demand with a pout as we part.

Luffy grins widely "finding a boat remember?"

I gape at him in surprise "so you actually found on then?" I ask him dubiously.

He laughs loudly and grabs my hand "come and see it Kimi!" he drags me with him down to the docks.

As we stop by a small rowing boat I grin, I don't care how small it is, I'm finally leaving this town, and 'Mother' can stay here and rot!

My smile threatens to split my face in half "when are we leaving?" I ask Luffy excitedly

"I thought we were going now" he says, tilting his head in confusion

Giggles burst from inside me and I grab him into another quick hug "this is perfect! I say sincerely

He laughs loudly again "this is your dream too! We're just doing it together" he said with a broad grin.

Laughing together we get into the boat, and as we cast off, the goodbyes of the villagers echo from behind us.

Sailing away I am suddenly struck by a thought that jolted me to my feet "um, Luffy. Have you worked out where we're headed yet?" I ask him nervously

He smiles at me without a care in the world "I guess we'll just go wherever the boat takes us!" he laughs

I sighed and sit back down in the boat.

We sail on, a brief encounter with the sea serpent from years ago halted us momentarily but Luffy soon took care of it.

We were sailing for days until we came across the whirlpool, I look at Luffy in panic but he looks surprisingly unconcerned, when frantically I ask him about why he isn't worried he replies with; "well if you're getting sucked into a whirlpool, it doesn't matter if you can swim or not, cause you'll die either way!" he laughs

I face palm, but am soon knocked overboard as we are sucked into the centre of the whirlpool.

My legs shift into my tail and my gills open up, I am spun round and put under extreme water pressure, but with one smooth kick of my tail I am soon free, I look around in concern for Luffy, but can't spot a thing.

I soon notice boat nearby and decided to climb up onto it for a better view.

The ship I happened to have climbed up on is a passenger ship, and various wealthy looking people were milling about on deck.

Frowning I look down on my own outfit in distaste, I will stick out like a sore thumb among this lot.

I scale my way around the ship until I find an open window, climbing in I see it is an empty passengers room, it contains a bed, a bathroom and most temptingly an open wardrobe, full to the brim with various over the top dresses.

I smile cheerfully; it would be okay to take one, right? After all I am a pirate now!

Shifting through them I found a less exaggerated blue dress, with strap sleeves and a sweetheart neckline, the dress is knee length and hangs against my body loosely.

I smile as I look in the mirror, although it's slightly too big for my body, I look decent enough to blend in now.

I open the door and step out into a hallway, following it I find the door to the kitchens, this isn't where I wanted to go, but the thought of food makes my stomach groan unpleasantly and wipes away any previous thoughts of mine.

Sneaking in, I find it to be abandoned. Shrugging I make my way over to the pantry. It is full to the brim with various expensive looking fruits, meats and spices.

My mouth water and I sit myself down near a box of peaches and start pigging out.

I had just started eating my third peach, when voices echoed out from the kitchen. My eyes widened, had the chefs come back? How would I explain myself for being here?

I hid in wait behind the door, if they came in here, I'd just wait for them enter, before running out and praying they wouldn't see me...

The door slams open, smashing me into the wall, seeing stars I sunk down onto the floor with a groan.

"Eh? Tsukimi?" I hear Luffy's voice mutter "Don't sleep there, you'll get sick!" I'm dragged roughly to my feet.

I shake the dizziness from my head and stare at him curiously "oh so you didn't drown then?" I ask him suddenly.

He laughs "no I fell into a barrel and it protected me!" he finally takes note of my new outfit and his eyes widen in surprise "what's with the new clothes?"

"Rags went out of fashion, so I thought I'd give stolen clothes a try" I tell him sarcastically with a laugh

Be both chuckle loudly about it, and I show Luffy over to where I found the peaches.

"Is this a pirate ship?" Luffy asks between mouthfuls as we stuff our faces with the peaches.

I laugh "no it's a boring passenger ship full of stuffy old rich people..."

"Um..." a little voice interrupts "this ship is currently being attacked by Alvida-sama right now."

I turn round in surprise and see a short young pink haired boy; he is wringing his hands nervously and looking at us with concern.

"Hmm, it doesn't really matter," Luffy dismisses carelessly "are there any boats on this ship?"

"There should be," the boy stutters "but..."

I laugh and interrupt him "this idiot sank our boat; he got it sucked into a whirlpool." I tell him giggling

The boy's eyes bulge "what? A whirlpool! You should be dead!"

Luffy grins "yeah! I was really surprised by it!"

The boy sighs in disbelief

"Are you a pirate as well?" I ask him curiously, because to be honest, looking at him, he doesn't exactly look pirate material...

"That was... a fateful day..." the boy mutters shamefully "that day I went aboard a boat intending to go fishing, but I boat I was on... was headed for a pirate ship. That was two years ago, in exchange for my life I've been working as their cabin boy."

"You're kinda clumsy and dumb." Luffy tells the boy bluntly "and you're gutless too! You really are worthless!"

"Luffy!" I shriek throwing a peach at his head "you can't say stuff like that to people!" I smirk as it hits him and ignore his complaints as I turn my attention to the pink haired boy "why don't you just run away?" I ask him softly

He blushes "that's impossible, impossible, impossible!" he chants stubbornly "when I think about Alvida-sama finding out ... my legs shake... and I get really scared!" he stutters.

"Oh you're a really big coward" Luffy laughs at him "I don't like you"

I threw another peach at him "you really shouldn't say stuff like that Luffy!" I pout.

"You're right" the boy murmurs forlornly "completely right... if only I could be brave enough to float around the sea in a barrel..." the boy suddenly looks up at Luffy "there's something I want to know though...um, Luffy-san... what were you doing drifting out in the ocean in a barrel?"

Luffy's face lights up "I'm gonna be pirate king!" he tells him happily

The boy's jaw dropped and he struggled to form words "p...p...pirate king?"

"Yeah" Luffy answers simply

"Seriously?" the boy asks incredulously

"Seriously." Luffy repeats.

"Then that means that Luffy-san is a pirate?" the boy asks nervously

"Right." Luffy tells him

"Where are your crew?" the boy demands

"I've only got Tsukimi!" Luffy grins "we're looking for a crew now."

The boy's jaw drops even further and Luffy leans back towards him curiously, waving a hand in front of his frozen face.

The boy stands up shakily "the pirate king is someone who has everything in this world!" He yells at Luffy "wealth, fame, and power all united within one person! Which means that you're going after 'one piece!'?"

"Ah!" Luffy agrees grinning

"Ah you say?" the boy almost screams "all the pirates in the world are going after that treasure!"

"I am too!" Luffy agrees again

"Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Absolutely Impossible! " The boy chants again and again, shaking his head violently from side to side. "It would be impossible to stand on top in this great pirate era!"

Luffy reaches out and hits him over the head

The boy sits on the floor holding his head in shock "hey why'd you hit me?" he questions pathetically

"Just because." Luffy tells him bluntly

The boy gets up onto his knees and smiles weakly "its okay, I'm used to it anyways"

I silently hold a hand out to him and pull him to his feet.

Luffy places a hand on his straw hat "It's not if it's possible or not." He mutters with a light smile "I do it because I want to." Luffy took off the hat and stares down at it, his smile widening "I decided to become the pirate king. I don't care if I die for it."

I frown at him "I would prefer you not to die," I say as I look down at the floor "but I think that dying trying to fulfil your dreams is better than never trying at all."

The boy looks up at us in shock.

Luffy breaks the silence by striding off saying "well, now that I'm full, maybe we should get a boat."

I smile and run ahead to catch up with him "maybe they'll give us one if we ask!" I suggest happily

"If they're good people." Luffy agrees with a smile

"Not afraid to die," we hear the boy mutter behind us

"What?" Luffy asks confused

"Maybe I can join the marines." the boy continues

"Marines?" I question softly

"That's right! It's my dream to catch bad guys!" the boy cries out "It's been my dream since childhood! Can I do it?" he asks Luffy

Luffy laughs "how would I know?"

"No I will do it!" the boy declares "I'm going to get out of here and stop working as a slave for Alvida-sama!" he shakes his angrily "no! I will catch Alvida-sama!"

The roof smashes in and a huge burly woman falls down into the room "making a friend like this!" she snarls "who are you going to catch... eh Coby!"

The pink haired kid, who I assume is Coby, cowers into a ball at the side of the room.

We look on in confusion, but several swords that are suddenly impaled though the doors behind us distracts us.

The huge lady spots us and smirks "you're not the pirate hunter Zoro." She states proudly

"Zoro?" I ask curiously

The woman ignores me "Coby!" she yells "who's the most beautiful woman in this ocean" she demands, waving her spiked club around threateningly

Coby is shaking "that is... um..."

"Who's the fat lady?" Luffy interrupts him suddenly

All our jaws drop.

"Luffy!" I hiss at him "are you trying to get us killed!"

Multiple tick marks appear on the woman's face and she yells out in rage "BRAT!" she swings her club down quickly at us, I dive to the side and Luffy jumps up through the hole in the ceiling, grabbing Coby on the way.

Sighing I look at the angry large Lady he's left me in the room with and gulp, no way am I sticking around to chat with her! I decide and clamber up through the hole in the ceiling after Luffy.

Up on deck, Luffy greets the angry pirate crew with a grin, he leans back as a pirate moves in to slash at him and then shoots back forwards, head butting him in the face.

One tries to attack him from behind and I quickly punch them in the face. Luffy grabs him with a scowl "it's not fair to attack people from behind" he yells as he throws the man into a cluster of Alvida's crew.

Several pirates appear behind him and he runs away screaming "too many on one is also not fair!" in a panicked voice, before he reaches the mast and grabs it, as he keeps running his arm stretches behind him. He turns around and lightly mutters "just kidding" before letting go and being shot back onto the pursuing pirates.

The others on deck stare at him open mouthed in disbelief.

"Luffy-san... what are you?" Coby stutters out nervously

"Eh? I'm a rubber man" Luffy says cheerfully, stretching the side of his mouth with his hand as proof.

"...rubber...man...that..." Coby stutters again before noticing Alvida behind him and stumbling forwards with a squeak

"You ate the devils fruit...right?" she growls out to Luffy

Luffy lets go of his mouth, letting it snap back into place with a ping "yeah, I ate the rubber fruit" he agrees happily

"Is that so?" Alvida says viciously "I've heard rumours about it, but I never though t it existed. You also have some moves, are you a bounty hunter?" she asks him

"No." Luffy says simply "we're pirates"

"Pirate?" she mocks him "just you?"

"It's me and Tsukimi right now" Luffy tells her "but I'll find a crew eventually."

"We'll only need about 10 people!" I add in helpfully

"That sounds about right" Luffy agrees with a grin.

Alvida laughs loudly and sarcastically "I see, so you are a pirate" she agrees "but that makes us enemies doesn't it?" she hisses

"Luffy-san...Tsukimi –san... run!" Coby whispers to us sharply

"Why?" Luffy asks, confused.

"You saw the power of that iron club didn't you?" Coby demands "this person is the strongest..." he freezes like something has just struck him.

"The strongest... what?" Alvida asks him smugly

"t...t...the strongest smelling ugly old hag!" Coby yells out defiantly

Everyone's jaws drop and Alvida's eyes flash black.

I start giggling and Luffy lets out a bark of laughter

"What did you say?" Alvida demands

"I will join the marines, and I'll fight pirates like you!" Coby stands his ground

"Do you even know what you're saying?" Alvida hisses

"I understand!" Coby yells "I'll... I'll do what I want! I'll join the marines and...and... Capture you!"

"You little brat!" Alvida yells, raising her iron club and slamming it down with a roar

"Well said!" Luffy praises, stepping in front of Coby and taking the iron club's hit on his head

Luffy grins from underneath the club "doesn't hurt!"

"It doesn't hurt?" Alvida yells disbelievingly

"Gum gum pistol!" Luffy yells pulling his arm back, then punching Alvida in the gut sharply.

The force of the hit sends Alvida flying away into the sky, hopefully, to never be seen again.

The pirates stare at the scene in disbelief, Luffy turns to them.

"Hey! Give Coby here a boat." Luffy instructs them "he's going to join the marines."

"Yes sir!" the Pirates agree nervously

"Luffy-san!" Coby mutters in admiration

The moment is then ruined by the marines arriving and showering us with cannonballs.

Luffy jumps into a boat, Coby joins him and they're gone before I can do anything.

I scowl. "You can't just leave me behind!" I yell at Luffy as I dive into the water.

Once my legs have transformed back into my tail again I swim quickly after the escaping boat.

"Oi, Luffy!" I yell as I swim by the side of the boat "you almost forgot me!"

He laughs "but you're here now!"

The laughter is infectious and soon I'm giggling along.

Coby is staring open mouthed at my tail "what...what... are you!" he stammers

Luffy laughs again "she's a mermaid!"

I reach into the boat and hit him round the head "don't tell him information we don't know for sure! You idiot!" I hiss at him

Luffy gives me a hand into the boat and I lie down, waiting for my tail to dry out.

"That was fun!" Luffy laughs

"Um Luffy-san" Coby says "if one piece is your goal then you're heading for the grand line then?" Luffy nods and Coby continues "it's also called the graveyard of pirates."

Luffy smiles "yeah! That's why I need a strong crew"

I scowl "hey! What does that make me?"

Luffy ignores me and leans towards Coby "that pirate hunter... what kind of a guy is he?" Luffy asks curiously

"You mean Zoro?" Coby asks him "I heard that he was captured by the marines"

Luffy's face drops in disappointment "ah, so he's weak then."

Coby stumbles "no! Not at all! He's a terrifying beast! Um... why are you asking me this?"

Luffy grins "if he was a good guy I thought I'd make him part of my crew!"

"You're gonna get us in trouble again Luffy" I mutter absentmindedly

"He might be a good guy!" Luffy argues back

"It's impossible!" Coby tells us "he was caught for a reason! It's impossible! Impossible! Absolutely imposs..."

Luffy reaches out and hits him in his head again

"Why did you hit me?" Coby moans

"Just because!" Luffy repeats.

I giggle and we sail on to our next adventure.

* * *

thank you for reading! please review!


	3. Roronoa Zoro

hi again!~ second update of the day! again, like the last chapter, this one hasn't been beta'd yet, so sorry for all the mistakes!

disclaimer: I still don't own One Piece :'(

* * *

"It's so nice today!" Tsukimi sighed to the sky.

They had been sailing for a few hours and everything was perfect.

Luffy turned to her and nodded happily.

"Yeah. As long as the stays this good and we take this path, we'll be at the marine base in not time." Coby told them cheerfully

Luffy's face lit up "eh? Coby you're amazing! Are we really going to reach our destination?"

"Of course." Coby replied simply "it's the most basic skill for people who sail"

Tsukimi frowned "is that supposed to be an insult?" she asked with a mock glare.

He cowered and Luffy and Tsukimi burst out laughing.

"This isn't the time to be laughing guys." Coby admonished them "He's held there."

Both Pirates turn to face him curiously, Tsukimi tilted her head innocently

"Who is Coby?" she asked

"The famous pirate hunter..." Coby shook "Roronoa Zoro!" Coby got a faraway look in his eye as he imagined the man "He's like a beast hungering for blood. He lives only for the bounty. He slits everyone's throats. He is a demon in a human body"

The once happy mood aboard the ship fled and the atmosphere became ominous, they sat in almost complete silence until they reached shore.

"We're here!" Luffy cheered "the town where the marines are!"

He sped off and Tsukimi and Coby stumbled to keep up with him as he strode quickly through the town.

Luffy's head was darting in different directions as he took in the sight of the various different stalls and shops, whilst Coby looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"Luffy, listen to me!" he cried anxiously "you're out of your mind if you think that this guy is gonna join your crew!"

Tsukimi giggled quietly "you've known him for this long now and you've only just worked out that he's completely crazy?" she muttered to him with him

They both laughed and Luffy's ears twitched

"Eh? What's so funny?" he muttered confused "anyway! I haven't made my mind up about Zoro yet. I've gotta see if he's a good guy first!" Luffy said as he walked ahead

Coby scowled "he's imprisoned because he's obviously not!" He shouted as Luffy bought a pear and took a bite out of it

"Hey is that pirate hunter Zoro around here?" Luffy bluntly asked the merchant

The merchant and several other people standing near them jumped back in shock and shook like leaves. Tsukimi blinked, wondering what had just happened.

"Maybe we shouldn't mention the name Zoro around here" Coby suggested quietly to them.

Luffy shrugged and continued walking "let's head to the marine base"

"Eh, why?" Coby asked confused

Tsukimi laughed "you said you wanted to be a marine didn't you?"

"I do Tsukimi-san; it's just that I don't think I'm ready yet. From what I've heard, the person who runs the base is a strict man called Captain Morgan." Coby said

As he said the name 'captain Morgan' the people standing near them, once again jumped back in shock and quivered violently.

Luffy and Tsukimi shared a look, conveying their collective thought.

'_What the heck is up with this town?'_

"This place is full of weirdoes!" Luffy laughed as they walked on

Coby frowned speculating in his head "I can understand why they'd be afraid of Zoro, him being a killer and all, but why did they get scared when I said the marine captains name?" he said to himself

Tsukimi giggled and spun round happiness "maybe it was a big joke!" she suggested

"How does that make any sense?" Coby muttered

They all stopped when they reached the walls of the Marine base

Looking up Tsukimi gasped "amazing! It's so big!"

Luffy let out a low whistle "this must be the place"

Coby stared transfixed by the building, looking like he was on the brink of tears "I... made it... thank you so both so much... I-I can't believe we're going to have to go our own ways even though I see you as my best friends..."

"Oi, Tsukimi, give me leg up!" Luffy asked as he tried to climb over the stone wall

Tsukimi huffed "Maybe I would've done if you had said please."

"Get off there Luffy!" Coby screeched in anxiety "or they'll see you and you'll get arrested!"

As he reached the top Luffy used his hand to shade his eyes as he searched "now, where's that demon?" he asked himself

Coby frowned "They've probably got him locked up in an underground prison cell or something, they wouldn't just have him out in the..."

"Found him!" Luffy cheered and jumped down, running in another direction. Coby sighed and Tsukimi laughed as they followed him.

They now had their upper bodies resting over the wall, whilst their feet dangled beneath them.

Standing a few yards away, tied to a wooden cross, was Roronoa Zoro.

"That's him right?" Luffy muttered excitedly

Tsukimi shivered, the man on the cross had a strange mysterious atmosphere around him.

"If we untie those ropes, he could just walk away, right?" Luffy asked

"No way! If we do that he'd just kill us with one strike!" Coby shouted

Luffy smiled "don't worry! I'm really strong so there's nothing to be afraid of!"

Tsukimi frowned "is it really worth getting into a fight over though?" she pondered.

"Hey, you three!" a low rough voice called "get lost, you're irritating me."

Coby flinched as they saw that Zoro was glaring at them

"Come on! Let's just go! There's no way a criminal like him would want to be on your crew Luffy!" He shook

A ladder was suddenly raised next to them and a little girl climbed up, she made the Shh motion to Coby before climbing down a rope into the marine training grounds.

She clutched a small paper package to her chest as she ran towards Zoro.

"That's dangerous!" Coby screamed at her "Luffy-san! Please stop her! She'll be killed!"

The little girl reached Zoro and smiled up him.

"What do you want?" Zoro said blankly

"Aren't you hungry?" the girl asked cheerfully "I made you some rice balls!"

"You're gonna be killed kid, go away." Zoro told her as she unwrapped the paper package.

"You haven't eaten anything though..." she muttered "here!" she held out, two perfect rice balls to him "it's my first time making them! But I put a lot of effort into them."

Zoro looked momentarily taken aback before scowling "I'm not hungry! You're annoying! Hurry up and go home!"

The girl looked down sadly "but..."

"I don't want any!" Zoro roared "don't make me hurt you!"

The gates on the far side of the courtyard rattled open and a skinny blonde man strode in. Flanked by two burly marines.

"You shouldn't be bullying kids." The man sarcastically "looks like you're still energetic, Roronoa Zoro."

"And another weird guy appears..." Luffy muttered

"Thank goodness, they're marines. Now that little girl will be fine." Coby sighed in relief

As the skinny man reached Zoro, he looked down at the little girl.

"hey, those rice balls look pretty good" he muttered, before snatching one up and biting into it.

His eyes bulged at the sweet flavour of sugar hit his taste buds, spitting out the rice ball violently, he turned to the small girl with fury in his eyes.

"Nasty!" he spat "it's full of sugar! Sugar! Rice balls are meant to be made with salt!" he yelled down at her.

The little girl looked up with tears in her eyes "but... I thought it would taste better sweet!" she stuttered.

Smacking the other rice ball out her hands, the skinny man stomped it into the dirt repeatedly

"Stop, stop!" the small girl sobbed as her hard work was crushed.

Once it was completely ruined, the man smirked and pulled a sheet of paper out from his top "you haven't read this notice yet have you?" he grinned "anyone found helping Roronoa Zoro is to be captured and put to death, by order of my father, captain Morgan."

"Father?" Tsukimi repeated, curiously.

"He's Captain Morgan's son?" Coby asked in disbelief

The Marine captain's son waved his hand at one of the marines.

"Hey, throw this kid out of here." He ordered him

The Marine stood still in shock, so the skinny man grabbed the front of his shirt.

"I'm telling you to toss her outside!" he spat "are you disobeying my orders? Do you want me to tell my father on you!"

The soldier shook, before nodding reluctantly

"Yes sir. Right away" he said in a defeated tone.

He knelt down to the little girl, and as he was about to pick her up, he muttered "I'm sorry, just curl into a ball, okay?"

He threw her up into the air over the wall, the little girl cried out in fear as she flew; luckily Luffy used his stretching powers to grab her before she could hit the ground.

The two tumbled down to a heap, Luffy's hat falling off in the process.

"Thank you" the girl said

Luffy grinned widely "no problem."

Tsukimi ran over to the two, her face full of worry "are you two okay?" she asked frantically.

Receiving a nod from Luffy, she picked up the young girl and checked her over, finding nothing, she held the tired girl against her waist.

Coby came running up, but his face only held anger "how can that man be so cruel?" he muttered bitterly

Luffy picked up his hat and stood up, wondering what was happening now, on the other side of the wall.

"Damn you." Zoro hissed at the snickering man in front of him.

"Trying to keep your composure, Roronoa? My, you really want to get out of here, don't you?" asked the man.

"That's right." Zoro agreed darkly "I'll make it through the month. Just you watch." He muttered.

"Yeah right!" the man broke out into laughter again "keep dreaming, Roronoa!" he called as he left the training yard.

Back on the other side of the wall, Coby was looking at the small girl with relief

"So you're fine? That's a relief." Coby smiled

Tsukimi looked down at the young girl and grinned "of course she's fine, if she's brave enough to visit Roronoa Zoro in the first place she must be made of pretty strong stuff!" she complimented the girl.

"How could the man be so heartless?"Coby asked himself desperately

He then turned around to say something to Luffy, but the straw hat wearing pirate had vanished.

"Eh? Where did he go?" Coby murmured

Tsukimi frowned, she placed the girl down gently, telling her to stay with Coby, before running back to wall, and leapfrogging over it.

As she jumped down onto the other side, she landed roughly on something, squidgy?

"Ah!" she yelled as she looked down "I am so sorry Luffy!"

The now squished boy pushed her off him and laughed.

"You're so clumsy!" he said before laughing again.

Tsukimi frowned "hey! At least..."

A cough interrupted her; she looked over to see Zoro staring at them.

"Oh um... hi?" she said and gave him and awkward little wave.

"hi." He said blankly back.

"So, you're a pirate hunter huh? How's that... uh working out for you?

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked her in a semi bored tone

Tsukimi blushed and hid behind Luffy whispering "this is so awkward."

He laughed and walked forwards towards Zoro

"So I hear you're a bad guy." Luffy stated.

"You're still here?" Zoro asked him blankly

"You're tied up here for the whole world to see and for what? Nothing. Are you sure you're as strong as they say?" Luffy asked him

Zoro scowled "mind your own business." He muttered.

Tsukimi laughed "If Luffy was in your place, he'd probably starve within a day."

Zoro smirked "well I guess that shows I have more spirit than him, which is how I'll survive this, you watch and see."

Luffy grinned and walked away.

"You're such a weirdo" Tsukimi joked before she turned to join him

"Wait! Hold on." Zoro called out to her

Tsukimi turned back to him, her head tilted to the side curiously.

Zoro eyed the mess of a rice ball on the floor and muttered "could you pick that up for me?"

Tsukimi laughed and picked up the ruined food "you sure you want to eat this?" she giggled again "it's now 50% rice, 50% dirt."

"Just give me it!" Zoro yelled.

Shrugging Tsukimi walked up to him and held it in front of his mouth.

Zoro scowled "can't you just throw it to me?"

Tsukimi blushed, ducking her head down so her cerulean locks covered her face "I suck at throwing." She muttered quietly.

Zoro bit back a laugh at her, and forced a scowl onto his face.

"whatever." He grumbled "just let me eat it."

She held it out again, and Zoro ate it from her hand.

Once he had finished the girl in front of him collapsed into a fit of laughter.

Staring at her confusedly, she slowly stood up again, wiping away a tear of laughter, she told him "your lips were brushing against the palm of my hand, it was really ticklish!" she gave him a grin.

Zoro tried to say something, but the dirt from the rice ball stuck in his throat and he coughed out violently.

"I told you it was full of dirt..." Tsukimi said with concern

"no." He interrupted her, with what looked like a small smiled "it was good, tell that kid I said thanks."

Tsukimi nodded happily before suddenly staring really hard at his mouth.

Zoro frowned in confusion, what was she doing?

As she leaned in closer he started to feel heat rise up on his cheeks. Was she going to k...k...Kiss...?

His thoughts were interrupted by her using her hand to roughly wipe away the grains of rice left around his mouth.

Once she was done, she smiled and skipped away happily with her hands clasped behind her back.

Zoro blinked in shock "what the hell was that?" he whispered to himself.

* * *

"Really?" the little girl called Rika asked excitedly "he said that?"

Tsukimi had come back and told them what had happened at the marine training grounds after they had left.

Tsukimi grinned "yep! And he ate it all up!"

This made Rika smile even wider, her grin taking up her small face.

Coby placed a finger on his chin "I'm starting to wonder if Roronoa Zoro is as bad as they say" he mused.

Rika shook her head quickly "no way! Big brother Zoro is a good guy! After all..." she looked down sadly "he saved this town."

" It's all Helmeppo fault. He's the son of Captain Morgan. Three weeks ago, he bought a vicious wolf into town and it terrified the living daylights out of everyone. But then Zoro came and he nearly finished off Helmeppo. That big meanie threatened to kill me and my mom. But, he said that if Zoro could survive being tied up to that big post for a month, then he could be let go. But Helmeppo keeps cheating by trying to break Zoro's spirit. It's… it's not fair!" The tiny girl burst into tears, her sobs shaking her small frame.

A crash resounded from inside Rika's family's restaurant, and as the four ran into the building they saw that Helmeppo was there, throwing around threats and orders, so that he would be pampered.

He was given wine, and as he held it, he leant back in his chair like a lazy tyrant.

"I am incredibly bored now and I'm trying to find something fun to do. I suppose I can just have Zoro executed. Oh, wouldn't _that_ be hysterical!" the man snorted. As he took a sip of his wine, Luffy's fist made contact with his face.

The force of the punch sent the small skinny man flying to the floor.

"y..y..you just hit me!" Helmeppo stuttered, staring at Luffy accusingly

Tsukimi snorted angrily "well done" she muttered sarcastically "give the man a medal."

Luffy went to punch him again but Coby held him back.

"Luffy stop it!" The pink haired boy yelled "what's wrong with you?"

"He's trash!" Luffy spat, glaring down at Helmeppo

"I'll tell my father what you did and have you executed!" Helmeppo squealed.

Tsukimi laughed bitterly "your father? Does your father do everything for you? Does he still wipe your pathetic little arse?" she sneered.

"Luffy-san! Tsukimi-san! Calm down!" Coby yelled "you shouldn't make the marines your enemies!"

"I've decided Tsukimi." Luffy muttered determinedly "I will have Zoro join our crew!"

Tsukimi's rage was replaced quickly by joy "really?" she giggled "this is perfect!"

* * *

"You're_ weak, Zoro. Nothing ever changes."_

Zoro's eyes shot open. Because of the boiling heat, Pearls of sweat ran down his face and soaked into his shirt. Zoro took calm breaths, trying to slow down his erratic pulse._' I… can't die here. I made… a promise…'_ thought the pirate hunter. He then saw a shadow and he looked up. Luffy and Tsukimi stood before him.

"You again. Don't you have things to do?" asked Zoro, his mood growing irritated.

"We'll untie you if you agree to join our crew." Luffy said taking a step forwards

"Your what?" asked Zoro, wanting to confirm what he heard was what he had said.

"I'm running a pirate crew and I need people to join." said Luffy as he walked closer. Zoro smirked.

"No way. As if I'd stoop to that level. Joining a pirate crew is the most stupid thing I've ever heard. Screw that business." he said, turning his head away. Luffy placed his hands on his hips.

"What's wrong with being a pirate?" he asked.

"They're lowlifes. Joining them is the last thing I'd ever do." Zoro spat

Luffy grinned "Come on. Everyone already thinks that you're some kind of killer full of bloodlust." he said. Zoro still looked indifferent.

"People could say what they want to say, but there is not a single thing in my life I regret. I'll make it through this month and I'll accomplish what I desire." said Zoro with sheer confidence.

Luffy blinked." That's cool. But I still decided that you're joining my crew." he said grinning.

If Zoro weren't tied to the post, he would've fallen down anime style. Instead, he yelled.

"What! You can't do that!" Luffy grinned.

"Come on. I've heard that you're one of the best swordsmen out there." he said.

"I am! It's just that Hel- whatever the bastard's name is took my Katana." said Zoro.

Luffy laughed. "Well, I guess I'm gonna have to go get it then." he said.

"What?" asked Zoro in confusion

"If I get your Katana back, then you join my crew." Luffy told him.

"You're really starting to piss me off, kid!" yelled Zoro.

Luffy laughed loudly and ran off.

"Hey, genius. You're going the wrong way." said Zoro.

Luffy paused before stretching his arms in a different direction.

"Gum-Gum Rocket!" yelled the rubber boy as he flew. Zoro stared at the flying girl in disbelief.

"What the… what the hell is this kid?" he asked himself.

Tsukimi giggled, reminding the man that she was still there.

"He certainly is different" she said with a fond expression on her face.

Zoro looked at her with a strange expression "so are you part of that kid's pirate crew?"

"Of course I am!" Tsukimi said boldly "he helped me escape from my own personal hell and now he's helping me to fulfil my dream of discovering where I came from. The least I can do to repay him is being a part of his crew" she said the last part softly with a smile.

Coby climbed over the wall and made his way over to the two, and silently began to attempt untying Zoro.

Without a word Tsukimi started helping him, working on untying the rope around his waist.

The contact made the swordsman blush, and glance at the oblivious girl as she worked.

"You have to get out of here, Zoro" Coby said, pulling Zoro from his thoughts as he got a knot undone.

Zoro scowled. "Listen, kid. That maniac will kill you when he finds you helping me." he snarled.

Coby shook his head."I don't care. I just can't see the Marine's name being treated like this. The Marine's should be honourable." he said.

Zoro's scowl turned darker. "Look, kid! I can't leave! I'll be let out in ten days and-"

"Actually, they were planning on killing you tomorrow." interrupted Coby.

That certainly stopped Zoro.

"What?" he asked.

"Helmeppo was not planning on holding his promise to you. He planned on killing you from the start. This made Luffy really angry. He even hit him for it." explained Coby as he got a few more knots undone.

That made Zoro stop again. "He did?" he asked, shocked that someone actually fought for him.

"Yeah. And now, the Marine's are dead serious on catching Luffy. Don't worry, I'm not asking you to be a pirate. I just hope you help Luffy. You both are incredibly strong. And you can save each other from a tragic fate." said Coby.

Zoro went silent.

"End of the line!" called a voice. Coby and Tsukimi froze and they turned and saw an axe handed man with ten Marine men." For the crime of treason against me, I sentence the both of you to execution." said the large man as his men locked their rifles.

Both Coby and Zoro froze.

Tsukimi whimpered in fear but stepped forwards to protect her two friends.

"Tsukimi!" Coby hissed "what are you doing?"

"hey! Girl! Get back here!" Zoro yelled at her

Tsukimi stood still, rooted to the spot, her arms spread out wide, as if welcoming the bullets.

She looked over her shoulder at them slowly "Luffy wouldn't be happy if I let anything bad happen to you two" she laughed weakly.

She looked back over at the marines in time to hear the words "FIRE" being yelled.

As the bullets shot towards her, she felt arms wrap around her and spin her around.

"Tsukimi!" Coby yelled his voice in harmony with Zoro's

As the echoes died everyone looked through the clearing dust to see Luffy Holding her in his arms, with bullets embedded in his body.

"KID!" Zoro yelled out in shock.

Luffy smirked as he stretched his body out, making the bullets fly back." See ya!" yelled Luffy mockingly as a bullet narrowly missed the axe man's head.

Luffy threw his head back and laughed." That won't work on me! I told I was strong!"

Luffy laughed on whilst everyone else stared at him in disbelief.

Tsukimi tapped him on the shoulder giggling "um... could you put me down?" she chuckled

Luffy looked down at her and nodded with a nervous laugh.

He set her down gently and gave her a gentle shove in the direction of Coby, his silent way of telling her to stay out of this fight.

Tsukimi huffed in annoyance, but made her way over to where Coby was standing.

"You never let me do anything." She moaned childishly, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Who are you people?" Zoro yelled out to them

Luffy grinned toothily "I'm Monkey. D Luffy, and I'm gonna be King of the pirates, and she's Tsukimi and she's gonna be my queen."

Everyone's jaws dropped at his bold statement, Tsukimi shut hers quickly with and audible click, her face aflame.

"You're engaged?" Zoro asked blankly

"NO! No we're not!" she cried out embarrassed "Luffy! When did I agree to that!"

Luffy grinned "when we were eight!" he laughed "remember?"

Tsukimi facepalmed "I don't think I meant it all that seriously" she muttered

Luffy just responded with another loud laugh, making Tsukimi even more embarrassed.

Zoro burst into laughter "w...w...What?" he gasped out between laughs "become the pirate king?" his expression suddenly became serious "do you realise what you're saying?"

"King of the Pirates means what it sounds like. How can someone not know what it means?" asked Luffy innocently.

Coby nodded with his own grin. "Yeah! It sounds really nuts and impossible but it really looks like he's serious. He has every intension on becoming the King of the Pirates. He has his mind set on obtaining the One Piece." said the would-be-Marine.

Zoro raised an eyebrow.

Luffy then held out the three Katanas to Zoro. "Here you go, just like I promise. I didn't know which one was yours so, I brought all of them."

"They're all mine, kid. I am a user of Santōryū, the three sword style." said Zoro.

Luffy shrugged and continued to hold out the Katanas.

"Just take them already. Just know that if you fight with me, you'll become a government defying villain. It's either that, or you're left here killed by the Marines, execution style." he said.

Zoro smirked. "What are you? The child of the Devil? It doesn't matter. Because if don't I choose your side, I'll just end up dead on these sticks. So let's see what you got." he said.

Luffy pumped his fist in the air in victory.

"Alright! You're finally joining our crew! Thank you! You're the best!" Tsukimi cheered as she tackled Zoro in a hug.

Zoro flinched. He was not familiar with a touch so warm. He then clenched his teeth.

"Get the hell off me and untie these ropes, kid!" he yelled.

The Marines were frozen in their spots. How could that child be able to doge their bullets?

The axe man, most likely Captain Morgan, didn't look all too shocked.

"Straw hat's different from the rest of us. He must've eaten one those legendary Devil fruit we've heard about." said Captain Morgan.

The Marines gasped. "Yes. The very fruit that give the one who consumes them other-worldly powers. The power to breath fire. The power to cause tsunamis. Little is still unknown about them. And, it seems that Straw hat has just shown the power of his Devil fruit. Well."

Captain Morgan held his axe hand to the air. "If we can't shoot them, charge!" he yelled as he and his men charged at the three. The sounds of steel clashed and yells were heard.

The Marines froze as Zoro got loose of his binds and held two Katanas in his hands. With one clenched between his teeth.

How he got loose of them was a mystery to them all.

"Today, I officially become a criminal. After having fought the Marines. I'll become a pirate, which I can promise you. But I tell you this now. Being a pirate won't stop me from fulfilling my ambition." said Zoro.

"Which is?" asked Luffy.

Zoro smirked."To be nothing less than the worlds greatest swordsman. If something along the way stops me, then I will end your life on these swords" he said.

Luffy smiled. "The world's greatest swordsman. Sounds pretty cool. The King of the Pirates would have no less on his crew." he said.

Zoro nodded. "Big talk, for a little kid. From now, I don't care if it's as a devil, or a saint, I want my name to be known all over the world." he said.

"Kill them at once!" yelled Captain Morgan. The men charged once more.

"You better duck." said Luffy.

And Zoro listened to him

"Gum-Gum Rocket!" yelled Luffy. And the battle started.

* * *

Luffy was stuck. After an intense fight, he was ready to attack Helmeppo. Who had shown up earlier and used Coby as a hostage.

As Luffy was about to perform his signature move, Captain Morgan attempted to strike him on the head. At the last second, Luffy managed to hit Helmeppo.

Whilst which, Zoro had killed Captain Morgan.

After the dreaded Marine captain fell, his men cheered.

"That's weird. They seem pretty happy that he's dead." said Coby.

Luffy shrugged and she smiled at Zoro. "Thanks for the help." he said.

Zoro smirked and nodded."Just doing my job, captain." he said.

Luffy smiled again and laughed Zoro's smirk turned into a smile. His eyes suddenly closed and he collapsed on the ground.

"Zoro! Are you ok?" asked Coby in a panicking tone. Zoro opened his eyes and groaned.

"Yeah. I'm just… hungry." he said. Luffy blinked before throwing his head back and laughing.

* * *

People surrounded Rika's family restaurant, twittering like birds.

"Man! I can't remember I had a last good meal like that. I was ready to eat my own haramaki if I didn't get anything to eat." said Zoro in a joking tone.

He now wore his bandana tied around his shoulder, showing his untidy, sea foam-green hair. Coby, Rika, Tsukimi and Rika's mother laughed while Luffy was enjoying his own food.

"You finished already? There's a shock." he said, five empty plates already finished on his side.

"How could you have a bigger appetite then a guy who hasn't eaten in three weeks?" asked Zoro.

Luffy shrugged "Just enjoying good food. Right, Kimi?" asked the straw hat wearing boy to his friend. Tsukimi laughed.

"Yeah, thank you so much for fixing this up for us, by the way." said the blue haired girl to Rika's mother.

The nice lady smiled. "My pleasure. After all, you did save the town." she said.

"You're the coolest person I've ever met." said Rika to Luffy. The older boy smiled.

"Heck yeah I am. And I'll be even cooler when I'm King of the Pirates and I get the One Piece. Oh yeah, and when I get the strongest crew of the seas." he said.

Zoro let on a crooked smile."So, how many other crew members do you have besides me?" he asked.

Luffy took a calm sip of his orange juice."Tsukimi and you"

Zoro's smile flattened. He pointed to himself. "Just us? You know, that doesn't amount to a good enough crew." he said.

Luffy shrugged. "So, we're pretty strong." he said.

"Well, do you at least have a boat?" asked Zoro. Luffy pointed to the small boat that was tied outside.

Now Zoro _did_ fall anime style.

"How did I get myself sucked into this?" he asked himself.

"Come on, it'll be loads of fun." said Tsukimi smiling.

Zoro rolled his eyes but smiled anyway.

"Say, Luffy? Where are you guys planning on going after leaving here?" asked Rika.

Luffy grinned. "The Grand Line, of course." he said.

Coby coughed some his juice. "No way! That's too dangerous, Luffy!" he shouted.

Luffy tilted his head. "Why?" he asked.

Coby looked down."As you probably know, that place is so dangerous, that only one man was able to pass it. And that was the King of the Pirates himself. Gol D. Rodger. It is said that the Pirate King had placed his most valuable treasure, the One Piece, at this location. Many countless men had tried to obtain this treasure, but… it lead them all to the same terrible fate. There's a reason why that place is called the Pirate's Graveyard. No one has ever made it out there alive." said Coby as he began to tremble.

Luffy leaned back in his chair." Eh, I'm not afraid. We're still going there anyway." he said.

Zoro also leaned back in his chair. "I guess we have to live with It." he said.

Coby stood up sharply from his chair."No! You can't!" he yelled.

Zoro raised a brow. "Why do you care? You're not planning on coming with us, are you?" he asked.

Coby shook his head. "No. But, I still find Luffy-san and Tsukimi-san as great friends. Even though we haven't known each other for long. Right, guys?" asked Coby to them.

Said pirates grinned.

"Of course. Even though we have to part ways, we'll always be good friends." Luffy said.

"Maybe once I've found my parents I'll come here again with them to meet you." Tsukimi said softly

Coby smiled sadly. "When I was just a little kid, I never had any friends. None that would even fight on my behalf either. So I always tried my hardest to never fight for anything. But the two of you have taught me a lesson I could never learn on my own. You taught me how to fight for what I believe in. So I decided to make my dream a reality. I'm gonna join the Marines." he said confidently. Everyone was silent.

Then, the door suddenly opened and some Marine soldiers walked in. everyone froze.

"Hey, you." said one of the men, walking over." We heard that you are pirates, is this correct?" asked the man.

Luffy nodded. "Yep. You heard right." he said.

The man fixed his cap. "As we are grateful that you saved our town from that tyrant, we will allow you to go freely. However your must leave this town immediately. We will not arrest you." he said.

The town's people outside the restaurant argued. Luffy shrugged and got up.

"Guess it's time to go. Thanks for the food." he said, bowing his head to Rika's mother.

"Hey, wait a second. You're leaving already?" asked Rika.

Tsukimi nodded "Yeah. I'll miss you kid, it'll be hard to find someone as adorable as you out there in the world" she said, lifting a bag of food that Rika's mother prepared over her shoulder and beginning to walk out of the restaurant.

Zoro stood up and followed her

"And what about this guy? He with you too?" asked the Marine, pointing to Coby.

Luffy stopped in mid-step.

"What I can tell you is what he's been doing up to this point." he said.

Coby's eyes widened. _'Luffy… you wouldn't!'_he thought.

"Yep. He to be some fat lady's cabin boy for two years. He's such a dork and a complete loser. He's the most weakest person I've ever-"

"Damn you!" yelled Coby as he punched Luffy. Hard. Everyone gasped while Zoro smirked knowingly.

Luffy smirked as well and he soon got in a fist fight with Coby.

Tsukimi then grabbed her captain by the back of his vest.

"That's enough, Luffy. Just let him fall. Let's go." Zoro said

Luffy smirked again and nodded, following his crew

_'Luffy… that was on purpose. He did it so that it wouldn't look like I was a pirate. It's not fair! Again and again, I've always have to rely on Luffy for help! Well no more!'_ thought Coby as he stood up.

"Sir! I'd like to be a Marine! I'll do what ever you want me to do! Just allow me to join!" yelled Coby. The lead Marine looked sceptical.

"You don't know how many of my men have died in the hands of pirates. However… permission to join, granted." said the Marine.

Coby smiled and saluted."Sir!" he yelled. The road to his dream was starting.

"That was some act you pulled back there. I wouldn't be surprised if they saw right through it, though." said Zoro as they made their way to the docks.

Tsukimi giggled. "Coby could handle the rest himself. We have faith in him." she said.

Zoro nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders. "Well, it's a real fitting way to leave this town with everyone hating us. Very pirate-like" he said as he and his captain got to the small boat.

Luffy laughed loudly "Yeah." he said as he began untying the post.

"Luffy." the two turned to see Coby, Rika, and Rika's mother a few feet away.

Coby saluted them." Thank you, Luffy! You have done more for me than anyone else in this world has." he said.

Zoro smirked. "That's new. I've never heard a Marine thanking a pirate before. That's for the history books."

he said. Luffy grinned and she and Zoro got ready to leave. But no matter how much they opened the sails pushed the boat it wouldn't move.

Tsukimi sighed "I'll go look for a problem underwater." She said as she dove in

10 Minutes passed and the townspeople and Zoro grew more anxious

"Um, Luffy... should we go in after her?" he asked his new captain nervously

Luffy laughed hysterically, surprising everyone.

Just then the boat jolted and started moving away, Tsukimi surfaced with a grin

"We were just stuck on some rocks" she laughed

"H..How did you survive that?" Zoro stuttered

Tsukimi frowned "survive what?" she said thoughtfully, flicking her tail out of the water

Everyone stared at her in shock

A cute voice broke them out of it "mummy look! Big sister Kimi is a mermaid!" Rika yelled

"I don't know if I am..." Tsukimi muttered half heartedly

She swam alongside the side of the boat and waved with her crew

"Bye! Hope to see you real soon!" Luffy called out.

"Bye, Luffy." said Coby.

Rika waved as well. "Bye, Big sis Kimi! Bye big brother Luffy! And Bye Big brother Zoro!" she called.

"SAALLLL-LLLUUTEEE!"

Coby turned to see the entire Marine base saluting to the leaving pirates.

"See ya!" called Luffy as the ship sailed farther and farther away.

"You have a good friend." said the lead Marine to Coby. The gray-eyed boy felt tears drawing near but her cast them away.

_'Yes. Luffy is a good friend. And I know that somewhere, someday, somehow, we'll meet each other again. I can feel it.'_ thought the pink haired Marine.

Luffy smiled at the falling sunset."Alright. The adventures finally coming to a beginning." he said.

Zoro nodded. "Yeah, and we'll probably face more of them real soon." he said.

Tsukimi giggled in agreement. "Got that right." she said.

Zoro then noticed something. "how do you walk around with a tail?" he asked

Tsukimi laughed "It's not always been like this, It dries out and turns back into legs when I'm on land"

Zoro nodded in understanding "Say, is there any reason why you want to be King of the Pirates?" he asked.

Luffy turned to him. Zoro saw the seriousness in his eyes.

"I made a promise to someone a long time ago. That I would gather a crew and become the King of the Pirates. And I always make sure to keep my promises." said the pirate captain.

Zoro, believe it or not, smiled softly. Maybe being under the command of this captain wouldn't be so bad after all.

Luffy turned back to the sunset. "Ok. It's time to start the real fun. Lets head our course. To the Grand Line!"

* * *

review please and tell me what you think! xx :D


	4. It's Nami!

Hi again!~ thank you guys so much for reviewing! T_T It means a lot to me! it re-energized me, probably made me rush to get this chapter up too \(^.^)/ D

anyways it's not very good, cause my Beta is busy with her own stuff, and is going off on a holiday soon D':

disclaimer: If I owned one piece, It would probably not be as amazing as it is xD

* * *

"I'm starving" Luffy muttered, staring down at his stomach sadly, he looked over at Tsukimi and grinned

"Go catch us some fish!" he ordered

Tsukimi grimaced "I think that'd be a bit too much like cannibalism"

"When are we gonna reach land anyway?" asked Zoro, he crossed his arms behind his head and focused his eyes up to the sky.

The three had already been sailing for a couple of days _and_ they had already finished the food they had packed at the Marine Base City.

"Who knows? We've been sailing for a while by just the wind and the waves. Who knows when we'll reach land?" asked Luffy, reaching over the side of the boat and splashing the water a bit.

Zoro raised his eyebrow and then scowled. "aren't the King of the Pirates and his crew supposed to know where they're going?" he asked with a bit of irritation.

Tsukimi shrugged. "Not really. We've just been sailing here and there." she said.

She then turned to Zoro." What about you? Aren't you some expert bounty hunter who's been sailing for a long time?" she asked.

Zoro gave a nonchalant look." I don't have any recollection of calling myself a bounty hunter." he said. He then looked back to the sky." I had set out to the sea in search of one man. I couldn't return to my village. At that point, I had no choice but to go after pirates to make a living." he said. Luffy nodded and looked back at the water.

"Yeah, I see. So you just got lost." Luffy said simply.

A vein popped on Zoro's head." You don't have to put it like that!" he snapped, slamming his fist at the side of the boat.

The small vessel rocked back and fourth and Luffy's straw hat flew off his head. Luffy felt his heart stop.

"Oh no! Not my Shanks' hat!" he yelled.

Zoro could see the look of fright in the raven-haired boy's eyes. Was that straw hat _that_ important to him?

Either way, something made him run to the edge of the boat and grab the hat for his captain.

Handing it to him, Luffy took it and stared at it for a long time with and unreadable expression.

Tsukimi sighed and looked at the sky "Shanks" she said quietly as she watched the clouds go by

Zoro raised an eyebrow. This was the longest time they had been quiet since they started this trip.

"Hey, Luffy. You're gonna drop that again. I thought it was important to you." said the once bounty hunter.

Luffy smiled and placed his most treasured item on his head.

"Yeah. It is, thanks." he said, giving Zoro a toothy grin.

Zoro groaned suddenly.

"I am so hungry, it's killing Me." he said.

Tsukimi laughed "you're hungry? Then don't look at the sky, there's a cloud overhead that looks eerily like a pork chop"

Luffy blinked and looked to the sky. He noticed that flying overhead was a giant bird. With a smile, he said, "Hey, lets eat that bird."

Zoro rolled his head. "How do we catch it?" he asked, his eyes widening when he saw Luffy's arm stretch and grab the sails of the small ship.

"Gum-Gum Rocket!" yelled Luffy as his body flew to the bird.

Zoro and Tsukimi cocked their heads when they noticed something.

Luffy's head was trapped in the mouth of the bird.

Their minds then clicked.

Luffy's head was stuck in the mouth of the bird…

And he was flying far away.

Zoro snarled and he started rowing after the flying boy.

Tsukimi laughed bitterly "only Luffy could end up in a situation like that."

With a sigh, she jumped into the water, transformed, and started pushing the boat.

her powerful tail making the boat fly along like a speed boat.

They also picked up a couple of hitch hiking pirates and they started rowing in place of Zoro.

However they now had also, unfortunately, lost the sight of the flying idiot.

Zoro glared at the rowing pirates.

"You guys made me lose site of that Boy. Row faster or else. "He said. Making the pirates begin rowing faster out of their fear.

"We're sorry we made you lose site of your friend, Mr. Pirate hunter, sir." said one of the pirates with a worried look. The other braver one, looked down at Tsukimi curiously

"What exactly _is _your girlfriend down there?" he asked slowly.

Zoro froze and he looked up at the sky.

"She's not my girlfriend, numbskull." he said, his cheeks flaring up. Zoro closed his eyes and sighed. This was gonna be one _long_ day.

After about 10 minutes of super fast swimming and rowing they arrived at the town, that they assumed, Luffy had fallen into.

As they reached the town, a large blast occurred and blew apart a quarter of the town.

Zoro looked around at the aflame buildings with curiosity, whilst the pirates cowered in fear back near the boat, and Tsukimi lay panting on the docks, her tail still there. She _had_ just been swimming as fast as she could, nonstop for 10 minutes. _Surely_ she deserved a break?

"That was a hell of an explosion." Chuckled the green-haired swordsman

"That must've been one of captain buggy's most awesome buggy balls" One of the cowering pirates said.

Zoro smirked and turned to Tsukimi, who groaned.

"I know that look... I'm gonna have to move aren't I?" She asked tiredly

"Yep" Zoro snickered at the tired girl

She frowned "bit of a problem with that..." she said as she waved her tail around "my feet aren't back yet."

This made Zoro's laughter die away, scowling he strode up to her and picked her up.

Throwing her over his shoulder, he walked off into the town in search of Luffy.

Tsukimi pouted "this is demeaning." She yawned before falling asleep from her tiredness.

When she woke up her legs were back and people were shouting around her and Zoro –still holding her- was silent.

Suddenly he dropped her, and charged forwards, quickly bringing out his swords to block an attack aimed at a young red headed girl.

"Zoro! Boy, am I glad to see you!" Luffy shouted from the cage he was locked in.

Tsukimi laughed and stumbled over to him, still sleepy.

"So you really are a wild animal huh?" she mocked him "I told them to lock you up years ago, but no one listens to me" she pouted before laughing loudly.

Luffy glared at her lightly, before breaking out into laughter as well.

"Eh" Tsukimi sighed "so how did this happen?" she asked dreading the answer.

"A bird dropped me in a fight, and to get our navigator I agreed to come here!" Luffy told her cheerfully

Tsukimi sweatdropped "ah, Luffy that doesn't really explain anything... ugh, don't worry about it" she sighed standing up.

"Hehe, so you're the legendary Roronoa Zoro? If you're here for my head, then that will be quite the problem for you." said Buggy (the pirate captain, who had taken over this town)

Zoro closed his eyes. "No, not interested. I gave up on pirate hunting. I'm here for my friend." he said in a calm monotone.

"But _I'm_interested, though. Killing you would boost up my reputation." Buggy snickered.

Zoro's eyes opened and gave a cool glare. "If you try, you die." he muttered.

Buggy cackled and he pulled out six daggers, twirling them with his fingers. "Is that so?" asked the clown pirate in a taunting tone.

Zoro sighed in frustration and his forehead creased "I tried to warn you." he muttered.

Buggy's crew cheered for their captain as the said man licked the blade of his dagger. Zoro clenched one of his Katanas between his teeth while he held the two others in his hands.

Buggy made a mad dash at Zoro with his six daggers. When he sprang into the air, Zoro went up as well and his blades cut clean through Buggy, slicing him into many pieces.

Zoro turned to the diced body and frowned. "That wasn't much of a fight, was it?" he asked.

"Wow, he was weak. Way to go, Zoro!" cheered Luffy.

Nami blinked and she noticed that Buggy's crew was chuckling.

"Why are they laughing?" asked Tsukimi, completely mystified

"Their captain is dead and they're laughing?" asked Nami, just as confused as the she-pirate was.

Zoro quirked his brow. "Hey, fellas, why are you- Ah!" Zoro's eyes suddenly widened and he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. His eyes lowered to his back and what he saw made Luffy, Nami and Tsukimi gasp.

Buggy's severed hand with a dagger had suddenly stabbed at swordsman's side. Zoro fell to his knees as the blood of his wound bled through his haramaki.

"Zoro!" cried Tsukimi, her eyes widening and panicking sweeping over her.

That familiar feeling swept over her body as she stared at the blood, the world spun madly and turned black.

-THUMP- Tsukimi's body hit the floor, making Luffy burst out laughing

"She still faints at the sight of blood?" he chuckled "what a wimp." Before turning his gaze back at his wounded crewmate.

"W-what the… hell…!" choked out Zoro, his breath turning irregular. Buggy gave a sickening smirk.

"The Chop-Chop Fruit. That is the name of the Devil Fruit that gave me my powers. I'm a Chop-Chop person and I can never be defeated by a sword! Ever!" laughed Buggy insanely.

"His body reattached himself. And I thought the legend of the Devil Fruit was just a myth." said Nami.

"So he's a Chop-Chop man? That's pretty weird." said Luffy.

If this were an anime, a blinking sign with the words "Gum-Gum- boy" would appear and point at the captain.

Buggy began crackling again.

"I didn't hit any vital organs, but, it looks like my dagger stabbed you good. So that makes me the victor!" laughed the captain as his crew sniggered with him.

Zoro clenched his teeth with shut eyes. "I… I let my guard down. That… that was a w-weak move…" he muttered as his wound began feeling like an intense fire burned within it.

Luffy clenched his teeth, the pit of his stomach twisting and his eyes going dagger-like at the laughing Buggy.

At the top of his lungs, he yelled,

"STABBING HIM IN THE BACK WAS A COWARDLY MOVE, YOU BIG NOSE!"

everyone suddenly fell silent. The only sounds heard were the panting of Zoro and Luffy and the gentle snoring of Tsukimi.

"What's _that_? Did you… say…? BIG NOSE!" yelled Buggy as he threw his weapon at Luffy. There was the sharp sound of the dagger.

"LUFFY!" yelled Zoro, momentarily forgetting his pain.

Tsukimi's body lurched up and her hand quickly caught the weapon mid air, she turned around with a proud grin, but soon caught sight of Zoro's wound, and promptly fainted again.

"Hey, Buggy. I'm gonna kick your ass as soon as I get out of this cage." Luffy laughed as his hands clasped the bars of his cage with anticipation.

Buggy began laughing his head off. "You? Kick my ass? That's big talk, little kid. If you want to do some ass kicking, you better do it quick. All you three will die here by my hands!" said the big-nosed pirate as he began laughing again, his crew joining him.

Luffy threw his head back and laughed loudly.

Buggy and the others stopped laughing.

"I refuse to die! Zoro, get up!" yelled Luffy.

"What?" asked Zoro, staring at Luffy as if he had grown two heads.

"You better have a good reason or else we're dead, Luffy!" yelled Nami.

Luffy smiled at her, then at Zoro. The three-sword-wielding man blinked before smirking knowingly.

"I gotcha." he said.

Nami nearly fell over._' This is why I hate pirates.'_ she thought worriedly.

Buggy suddenly charged at Zoro and the two began their sword fighting. With clinks, clanks, and one impressive slash, Zoro jumped past Buggy and he ran to the Buggy cannon.

With tremendous strength, Zoro lifted the cannon and turned it to the direction of the Buggy pirates.

He fell back on his knees and he placed his hands on his still bleeding wound, sweat running down his face.

"NO! DON'T AIM IT AT US! IT STILL HAS A BUGGY BALL!" yelled Buggy as the fuse was lit and fired.

The Buggy Ball burst from the cannon and it shot at the pirate crew, wiping them out instantly, including some of the other buildings.

There was a long, uneasy silence and Zoro suddenly lifted the cage with Luffy still in it.

"Zoro, are you OK? Asked Luffy slowly, watching Zoro's blood drip onto the rubble.

"Sh-shut up and don't worry about me. I'll… I'll get us out of this, one way or another." muttered the injured man through his clenched teeth as he tried to walk again.

Zoro then noticed Nami.

"By… By the way, Luffy. Who's the girl?" muttered Zoro.

"Oh, she's our new navigator." Luffy said simply as Zoro felt the pain of his wound increase and his blood began to run quicker.

"Seriously, who are you guys? You shouldn't be moving on that kind of injury." said Nami.

A vein popped on Zoro's head and he held Luffy's cage higher.

"Get… out of the way!" he snapped as he continued to carry Luffy's cage. Nami blinked.

_'Even with a serious injury, he still doesn't want to leave his friend.'_ she thought as she turned away to walk somewhere else.

"Wait." Zoro's gruff voice stopped her

"What?" she said spinning around irritated

"Grab the girl for me will ya?" he asked her, nodding at Tsukimi's still unconscious form.

Nodding slowly Nami waked towards the smaller girl and picked her up bridal style.

Following Zoro to the town square in silence, she waited until he had dumped Luffy's cage before handing him the girl.

"Just don't do anything perverted to her, alright?" Nami snickered as she jogged away

Zoro's face burned with embarrassment as he looked at her retreating back and then at the girl in his arms.

"Eh? What does she mean by that?" asked his innocent captain from his cage.

If possible, Zoro's blush would've increased, but thankfully, he was spared the need to explain, as the younger boy was quickly distracted by a small dog, sat near his cage.

"Doggy~!" he chirped as he clattered his cage closer to the canine.

Luffy pulled his eyelid and the corner of her lip and gave a "Bleh~" noise. The dog didn't move a muscle.

"Zoro, this dog looks frozen." said Luffy.

Zoro rolled his eyes. "I don't give a damn. He can sit there forever for all I care." he muttered.

Luffy laughed and tapped the dog lightly on the head.

The dog opened it mouth and sank his teeth into Luffy's hand.

"AHHHHHHHHH! YOU DAMN MUTT! WHAT THE HELL!" yelled Luffy as the dog dug it's fangs into the skin of his hand.

Luffy shook his hand and screamed loudly, trying his best to knock off the biting dog.

"Luffy! Get serious or- woah!" Zoro suddenly fell back in a heap. Tsukimi fell out of his arms and onto the road beside him.

"Eh! Zoro don't drop Tsukimi!" Luffy complained, staring at the blue-haired girl

The white puppy jumped back to it's neutral position.

"Damn mutt…" muttered Luffy as he lay down in his cage.

"I don't… feel so good…" groaned Zoro as he felt his stomach turn and his perspiration climbing.

Nami suddenly walked over and Luffy grinned.

"I guess I should give you this. After all, you got me out of a sticky situation. Just make sure that this makes us even." said the thief as she threw the key to Luffy's cage on the floor.

"Awesome! You stole this for me? Thanks, Nami." said Luffy, but as he reached for the key a pink tongue scooped it up.

The little dog swallowed the key whole.

After only a few seconds, Luffy started strangling the dog.

"You damn mutt! Give me back my key! Give! Give! Give!" yelled the straw hat wearing boy.

"Hey, stop that! Stop picking on poor Chou-Chou and leave him alone!" yelled a voice. The three turned and they saw an old man with curly white hair and large spectacles.

"And just who are you, old man?" asked Zoro.

The old man glared. "Old man? I happen to be the mayor of this town." he said a-matter-of-factly.

He then noticed Zoro's drying, yet gruesome wound." My, that's some injury. You need to see a doctor." said the old man, feeling slightly bad for Zoro.

After a moment of arguing, the mayor agreed to let him sleep his injury off in a house nearby.

Despite protests from Nami and the Mayor, he picked up Tsukimi and carried her inside with him.

Eventually The mayor came out of a house he led Zoro into and he walked over to Luffy, Nami, and Chou-Chou.

Will Zoro be OK?" asked Luffy, worry filling in his large black eyes.

The mayor sighed. "I insisted he see a doctor but, he said he just wanted to sleep it off. So I put him and the girl in a bed each and left." he said.

Luffy let out a short laugh, shaking his head.

So this dog's name is Chou-Chou?" asked Nami as she lightly petted the dog's head.

Luffy chuckled. "Why is he acting so frozen? He sure is one lazy dog." he joked.

"He's protecting the store." said the Mayor.

Both Nami and Luffy tilted their heads.

The mayor the explained to them that Chou-Chou use to belong to an owner to the town's pet shop who died a few months back. No matter what he did, the little dog would just stay at the shop, most likely protecting his very important treasure.

There was a sudden shaking of the ground and the mayor ran away, Nami fallowing him to ask what he was so afraid of.

The ground continued to shake and Luffy sighed.

"Come on, doggy. Something's here." he said.

The puppy just gave her a fixed gaze.

A shadow suddenly surrounded Luffy and he looked up.

Crimson-red pupils stared back at him and they belonged to the eyes of a gigantic lion.

It was as tall as a three-story house, tan-gray and a purple mane wildly surrounded his face.

A man with white hair with a wired, furry body-suit stood atop of the ferocious beast.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Luffy, not looking one bit afraid of the animal.

"I am known as the Beast Tamer Mohji, a member of the Buggy pirates. Now, prepare to face your death!" yelled the white-haired man.

Luffy blinked just before the lion busted his cage and sent him flying threw the air._' Well this is going to be a fun day!'_ he thought grinning.

* * *

"Gum-Gum…..!" yelled Luffy as his hands tied around Mohji's lion and threw him over his shoulder.

"HAMMER!" yelled the onyx-eyed boy as the great beast landed with a thud.

After witnessing Mohji's beast destroying Chou-Chou's pet store, she found a new ambition burn through his body and a brand new fighting move to go along with it.

Because it's great attack strength, Luffy's hat flew off his head.

He barely seemed to notice.

"What are you!" yelled Mohji, now completely afraid of the young pirate captain.

Luffy had his head low, his eyes being shadowed with a frown on his mouth.

"Well… I ate the Gum-Gum Devil Fruit." he said in a low tone.

Mohji flinched. "So, you ate a Devil Fruit like Captain Buggy? Only your's make's you stretch like rubber? I'm sorry! I don't want any trouble!" yelled Mohji.

Luffy had his back to him.

"There's no need to apologize to me. Because of you, that little dog will never get back his most precious treasure. And because of that," Luffy turned to him with serious eyes.

"I'm gonna kick your ass." he snarled as he grabbed the man by the front of his chest and slammed him to the ground.

Luffy then walked all the way back to the destroyed pet shop. Chou-Chou was starring at it.

"Oh, so you're alive. I thought that lion would rip your head off. But since it didn't, maybe I should! Then there be one less of you monsters to exist!" yelled Nami as she ran with dead hatred in her eyes.

The mayor stopped her immediately.

"Stop! There's no need for violence" he told her.

"As if you could kill me." said Luffy as he walked passed them.

"I could if I wanted to!" yelled Nami.

Luffy ignored her and he walked over to Chou-Chou.

He lifted his hat and under it was a box of dog food.

Luffy placed it in front of the puppy and sat next to him with a smile on his face.

"Sorry, but that was all I could save. That bastard lion ate up all the rest." said the pirate, grinning at the puppy.

_'He… he fought the lion… to save Chou-Chou's food?'_ wondered Nami with widening eyes.

"You fought well. Though I didn't see it. You're a really brave doggy." said Luffy as he patted Chou-Chou's head.

The little dog gave a yip and gave a panting smile at Luffy.

The seventeen-year old grinned.

"Yeah, good luck to you too, doggy." he said.

Chou-Chou took the dog food in his mouth and he trotted off god-knows-where.

"Hey, sorry for snapping at you like that, Luffy." apologized Nami as she walked over. Luffy grinned and she stood up.

"It's OK. You've just been under a lot of stress. So there's no need to apologize." he said.

"It's all my fault! I'm the one who runs this town and I've failed to protect it! I failed!" yelled the mayor.

Luffy and Nami did their best to tell him that it wasn't his fault. If anything, it was Buggy's fault. Everything went silent for a second until-

A sudden explosion ripped through the air and a building was destroyed.

Tsukimi woke to a blinding light. Feeling a force pushing on her, she blindly reached out her hand, only for another to clasp it tightly as, the building exploded.

Luffy's eyes widened in horror and words burst from his mouth before he could stop them.

"ZORO! TSUKIMI!" he yelled out, for his crewmate and childhood friend.

"Zoro! Tsukimi! Are you OK! Please be alright! Please be alright!" yelled Luffy as he dug and dug, sudden tears coming to the corners of his eyes.

He felt his pulse quicken and his breathing going funny, worrying for his friends.

"He's probably dead by now." muttered the mayor sadly.

"No! No! Zoro is OK! Tsukimi's stronger than she looks! She's not dead! No way!" yelled Luffy in outright denial.

"Oww… that's one good way to wake up. And who's screaming?" muttered a gruff voice as Zoro appeared from a piece of debris, Tsukimi held tightly to his chest, seemingly unscathed.

Her eye's fluttered open and she stared up at him.

"You saved me." She told him slowly

"yep." He replied.

She smiled widely and wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you!" she cried as she nuzzled into his chest.

Zoro's cheeks went crimson and his skin began to tingle.

"G-get off of me, idiot! Why the hell are you hugging me!" he yelled he tried to pull out of the happy girls grip.

"Yeah Tsukimi" Luffy said with a small frown "he has a wound remember!"

Tsukimi's eyes went wide, and then shut tightly as she tried to avoid looking at the blood.

Zoro laughed at her, and dropped her onto on the road with the others.

She landed on her back, looking up at them like a stranded turtle and making Zoro and now the others laugh harder.

"That's it!" the mayor cried suddenly "I'll defeat Buggy and his crew once and for all!" he yelled as he sprinted away.

"Dear god, what is this world coming to? The guy's gonna get himself killed." muttered Nami.

Luffy lifted Tsukimi up with him by her waist.

"Then I guess we're gonna go help him out. Right, Luffy?" asked the green-haired man.

Luffy cracked a grin. "You bet! Are you coming, Nami?" asked the teen pirate as she held her hand to Nami.

The red-head slapped it away. "I would never stoop so low to join a pirate crew. However." the cinnamon-brown eyed girl smirked." I guess we could team up in order to reach our goals." she said.

Luffy smiled and laughed in agreement before noticing his hands were on still on Tsukimi's waist.

She quickly pulled away with a flush. When Luffy grabbed her again.

"Don't do that, Kimi! You're so warm!" said Luffy with an adorable pout.

Tsukimi blushed and gritted her teeth. "Don't be so weird!" she yelled at him.

Nami giggled at them._' Aw~! Don't they make a cute couple?'_ she asked herself.

Buggy cursed under his breath when a familiar straw hat-wearing pirate appeared and stopped him from choking the mayor to death.

Zoro stood next to him with a proud smirk and his green bandana tied around his head.

Tsukimi stood next to him, her blue hair fluttering and blowing in the wind, like a stormy ocean.

Nami stood on the other side of Luffy with a smile on her lips.

Luffy looked up at Buggy and gave a smile.

"Good to see ya again, Buggy. Now, what was that promise I made to you? Oh yeah; I'm gonna kick your ass!" he yelled, his eyes sparkling with determination.

Tsukimi didn't really get to do anything during these fights as she half watched, (she was trying to avoid seeing any blood.) Zoro eventually took down buggy's trapeze artist.

Then it was Luffy's turn, he took his time in getting warmed up, but a 'friendly prompt' from Buggy, resulting in his hat being torn, soon had her childhood friend heated up.

Anyway, they beat Buggy, Nami stole a bunch of treasure and they were chased out of the town by its inhabitants.

Nami insisted that she share her boat with her (as they were both girls) so now Tsukimi was making herself familiar with the hammock, strung up in the small cabin of the boat.

Snoring softly, she was drifting through dreamland, when a shout woke her up.

Eye's glowing red; she ran outside and glared at the perpetrators.

"Who. Just. Woke. Me. Up." She said slowly, her mouth set in a straight line.

Luffy gasped "ah!" he screamed "demon Tsukimi is back! Run for your lives!" he then ran and hid behind Zoro.

Her eyes locked onto Zoro, and for a moment the man felt a cold sweat rush over him, but the feeling soon passed as she disregarded him.

Tsukimi's eyes now wandered over to a very nervous looking Nami and she grinned evilly.

"oh Nami" she cooed "I need you to explain to me about those strings I found in your underwear drawer..ooff" Tsukimi was cut off as the blushing older girl pushed her to the floor.

"Eh? Now Nami's mad?" Tsukimi muttered "opps..."

The raging red head made to charge at her, but Tsukimi dived off the boat into the water giggling.

Nami's eye's widened "Tsukimi!" she yelled in panic "what're you doing? You're gonna drown!"

Luffy laughed loudly and Zoro chuckled as Tsukimi surfaced looking confused.

"I'm drowning?" she asked Zoro, who hit over the head for asking such a stupid question

"No you idiot, she thinks that you're completely human" he muttered slowly

Tsukimi grinned "don't worry Nami!" she told the navigator cheerfully "watch"

Tsukimi then proceeded to do a series of flips and tricks in the water, giving Nami a good view of her long Blue and grey scaled tail.

"..W...w...what are you?" the Redhead screamed

"Who knows?" Tsukimi replied back cheerfully

Nami buried her head in her hands "is nobody on this crew normal?" she muttered to herself.

* * *

and there is chapter 4~ TADAHH

I stayed up all night writing this :'D please review! :3


	5. Usopp the liar

I'm so sorry this took so long to get up T_T I was at an anime convention and didn't have acess to a computer until l Tuesday..

oh and please don't think I hate Usopp, I just felt that some healthy dislike towards Tsukimi and visa versa would stop her falling into the (everybody who meets her loves her) mary sue-ness

anyway here it is... finally!

* * *

Tsukimi yawned loudly as she woke up, she had let Nami sleep in the one hammock on the boat.

So now she was sleeping outside, she was out sleeping on the roof of the cabin, but now realised that she had over estimated how hot the night was, shivering she quickly noticed how, on the boy's boat, there were a bunch of soft, warm looking blankets.

Smiling crazily, she jumped over to their boat, grabbed some blankets, and with another yawn, fell back asleep.

* * *

Zoro woke up slowly, stretching out, he grinned as his back gave a satisfying click.

Blearily looking around him, he noticed a lump in the blankets beside him, that hadn't been there when he had gone to sleep.

He lazily reached out a hand and pulled the blanket back, revealing a sleep Tsukimi.

Her blue hair was mussed up and even though she had a line of drool running from her mouth, Zoro found himself smiling at her cuteness.

"Wait... what?" he muttered, utterly bewildered by that train of thought.

He shook his head as if to clear it, before sighing, and starting to change the bandages covering his most recent wound.

As he finished wrapping up new bandages, he found he couldn't tie it, because the material ended around his back.

A small laugh made him jump in surprise, looking over quickly to see Tsukimi giggling at his expense.

"Here, let me." She grinned as she reached over and tied it for him, her eyes lingering for a moment on his bare chest before a wild blush broke out on her cheeks

"Um...I...I'll be going now..." she stuttered out with an awkward laugh, before leaping over back to Nami's boat.

Zoro scowled "what the hell was that about?" he muttered angrily.

* * *

"There's no way we can get to the Grand Line with these conditions." Nami told them sternly

"You're right. We're gonna need some meat. Eating just fruit is for orangutans." Luffy said as he ate the core of an apple.

"Yeah. And a little booze wouldn't hurt either." said Zoro. His face was greeted an apple to the face, thrown by Nami

"Not that, you idiots! We need more than beer and meat! There are other pirates who want the One Piece and they have better ships than ours." said the red-head.

Luffy caught the apple that Nami threw on the rebound from Zoro's face and took a bite.

"You're right. We still need a crew. Like a cook and maybe even a musician to keep us entertained." he said.

"A musician?" Zoro asked. He then laughed heartily at his captain's sudden idea of a crew mate.

"So stupid." muttered Nami with a shake of her head. She looked at her map.

"Lets see. If we head south, we'll be able to reach a group of islands with a few settlements. It looks like we can get out ship and the supplies we need there, too." said the thief.

Luffy threw his hands in the air.

"Whoo-hooo! That means loads of meat!" he cheered.

"Tone of booze, too." added Zoro. Nami sighed with irritation.

"Is that all you two think about! What am I gonna do with you two?" she paused suddenly "wait... where's Tsukimi?"

A giggle came from in front of the boat, as Tsukimi surfaced, she had stolen one of Nami's tops and had altered it into a sort of cropped swim top.

Now without the restriction of a dress around her legs, she was swimming a lot more swiftly and elegantly than she had before, executing jumps and flips in the water, almost like a dolphin.

"Can we get some material in the next town?" she asked hopefully as they sailed onwards.

Linnebreaakk...

" RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! PIRATES ARE COMING! THEY KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

A seventeen-year old screaming his head off as he ran through his village.

He was tanned and skinny with short, curly black hair and narrowed eyes.

The most remarkable thing about him was his long nose, which one could easily get confuse for a long cigar.

Around his head were sniper goggles and a yellow bandana. He also wore brown overalls with yellow-green boots. Strapped on his arm was a yellow satchel.

He seemed like he was on the verge of panicking.

"THEIR BOOLD-LUST IS MAD AND THEY'LL DESTROY US WITH THEIR TREACHEROUS SWORDS!"

So much for the _verge_ of panicking. Looks like he got there and back a few times already.

The teen then hunched over and breathed heavily.

After a few seconds of his lungs gaining back air, he suddenly threw his head back and laughed.

"Lie! Ha-Ha-Ha!" he laughed when a pan suddenly hit him in the back of the head.

"That hurt!" yelled the teen as he rubbed his now throbbing head.

The villagers of the town suddenly appeared and they charged at the teen.

The said teen gave a quick yell before making a mad dash out of the village and into the trees.

He sighed and he snickered as he watched the clueless villagers charging round madly.

He then lay back against the trunk of the tree he was in and he relaxed as the calming breeze blew through his air.

"He's gotta be here somewhere!"

The young man suddenly grinned and he jumped down from his tree, greeting two young boys.

"Your faithful crew is here, captain!" called one of the young boys, holding up a wooden sword.

"Pepper! Carrot! It's just you guys? Where's Onion?" asked the liar. Before the boys could even say, a little boy came screaming over the hill, close to crying.

"Ahhhhh! Run for your lives! Pirates are here! They'll kill us all!" yelled the boy as he ran up to the other three.

The teen gave him a bored look.

"Come on, quit playing." he said.

The boy, most likely Onion, stopped and catch his breath.

"I'm not playing!" he yelled.

The teen's face suddenly turned terribly frightened.

"W-what? Well then… peace out! I gotta leave! I-uh…. Have a bad condition that says I have to go!" he lied as he ran past the kids.

"Liar!" the three kids called in unison.

"It did looks like a Buggy boat, but, it was small! And there were only three people! Two girls and two guys!" yelled Onion.

The scrawny teenager suddenly froze in his tracks and he did a sudden heroic pose.

"OK, Men! Let's go and beat the crap out of those no-good pirates! We gotta protect the town! It's only right!" he yelled as he ran ahead. The three kids blinked before grinning and fallowing their 'captain'.

* * *

"Ahhh~" sighed Luffy in awe as the two boats docked on the island Nami mentioned earlier. Once the three got off the boats, Zoro stretched and popped his tightened muscles.

Feels good to be on dry land again." he said mockingly as he heard a satisfying pop of a bone.

Tsukimi scowled from the water "I always knew I hated you" she muttered, blowing bubbles angrily in the water.

"There's a town close by, right?" asked Luffy.

Nami nodded. "Yeah. But it's a small one though." she said.

Luffy began bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Then that means there's meat here~! Yay! Real food for once!" he cheered as his drool slid down his face.

A vein popped on Nami's head.

"Quit thinking about food for once, will ya?" she asked, obliviously annoyed.

Zoro yawned loudly and he heard a sudden rustle. His hand instinctively went to his Kantanas.

"Careful. We're being watched." he muttered.

Luffy looked around in all directions quickly.

"Who! What! Where! Is there any meat!" he asked excitedly.

Tsukimi giggled "I hope it's a giant cake!"

"Look out!" yelled Zoro as bullets as fast as the wind shot at Luffy's feet.

Luffy hopped, dodged and skipped at the invisible threats.

"Oi! Move, you idiot!" yelled Zoro

The bullets suddenly seized and black flags with Jolly Roger Heads popped up. All of the heads looked surprised.

"Whoa! This is soooo cool!" yelled Luffy and Tsukimi in amazement.

Nami and Zoro rolled their eyes simultaneously.

There was suddenly someone laughing heartily and the four pirates looked up.

"Ha-Ha-Ha! It was wrong of you pirates to show up in my village! I am Captain Usopp of the Usopp Pirates and me and my eighty-million men will take you out!" laughed Usopp as he suddenly appeared over a cliff.

"Awesome!" cheered Luffy in pure awe.

Zoro clicked his tongue disbelieving and Nami yelled out.

"Hey, you think we're buying this? Eighty-million men my ass!"

Usopp suddenly began panicking and twitching nervously.

"N-no matter! Even though I don't have eighty-million men, my crew is still the best!" he yelled proudly.

Nami gave a knowing look.

"My guess is there are three of them, right?" she asked.

"She knows!" yelled Pepper, Carrot, and Onion as they ran back to their village.

"Guys!" yelled Usopp as he looked over nervously at the three pirates.

Nami walked over and she picked up small black pellets." A pirate using a slingshot, huh?" she asked. "

"Ha-Ha-Ha! That was pretty cool!" Luffy yelled cheerfully.

Tsukimi's foul mood had worsened after meeting the lying 'pirate captain' in her mind, liars were people who couldn't be trusted.

"There's nothing cool about him" she sniffed "he's just a wannabe pirate, stuck playing games with a bunch of kids."

Usopp glared at her.

"Shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you! I'm a proud man and I won't stand for it! You'll see the reason why they call me proud Usopp! And not pushover Usopp. Is that clear?"

He asked as he took out a light green slingshot and he aimed it at Tsukimi.

The straw hat Pirate gave him a blank expression before pushing the brim of his hat over his eyes, giving them a shadowing look.

"You've already seen how good I am with this thing! So you know I can rival any pistol!" yelled Usopp.

"Now that you've drawn your pistol, are you willing-" he suddenly looked up with one eye revealed and a mischievous smirk."- to use it?" he asked in a half serious/teasing tone.

Usopp gasped, taken aback.

"Guns aren't for threats, they're for action. Are you willing to risk your life?" asked the Gum-Gum boy.

Zoro smirked knowingly at his captain before pulling out one of his Katanas.

"I can assure you; we're _real _pirates. Consider your next move very carefully." said the green-haired swordsman.

Usopp flinched and he stared at the two pirates, showing menacing and shadowing looks. There was a long and unsettling silence until Usopp dropped to his knees, along with his slingshot.

"Man, real pirates are so cool. They have action to back up their words. You guys really are pirates." muttered the slingshot user sadly.

Luffy smiled and he and Zoro looked at each other knowingly before laughing.

Luffy adjusted his hat and calmed down a bit.

"he stole those lines!" Tsukimi giggled as she swam closer to shore.

"Huh?" asked Usopp, confused.

"I stole those words from "Red-Haired' Shanks, a pirate I know." laughed the young captain.

Usopp gasped. "What! _You_ know "Red-Haired' Shanks? You're lying, right! You actually knew him?" he asked in disbelief.

Luffy grinned and nodded.

Tsukimi smirked "well, at least you know to respect pure awesomeness." She rolled over on to her back, staring up at him with lighter eyes

"Hey! I know you!" she grinned suddenly "Yussop was your father, wasn't he?"

Usopp gasped again and he fell off the cliff, unharmed.

He rubbed his head and said," Yeah. My old man's name is Yasopp. How do you know him?" asked the black-haired liar.

* GROOO~*

Luffy laughed and patted his stomach." First, lets grab some meat. I'm starved."

"yay food!" Tsukimi giggled, pulling herself out of the water and onto the beach, using her arms.

Usopp's eyes widened comically as he took in the sight of her tail. His face twitched and then swiftly after, he passed out.

Tsukimi and Luffy laughed uproariously at this reaction, whilst Zoro and Nami looked on in concern.

"uh.. guys..." Tsukimi said nervously, as she felt her tail drying quicker than it normally would, as that day was quite a bit hotter than average.

"I'm gonna need my dress" she told her red headed friend, Who nodded and ran off quickly to retrieve it.

"Why do you need your dress so quickly Kimi?" Luffy asked curiously

Tsukimi laughed nervously, her eyes widening in shock as she felt her tail beginning to transform back into legs.

She curled into a ball, protecting her naked lower body from view as best as she could.

"That's why..." she cried out in embarrassment as Nami returned with her dress.

She quickly pulled it on and marched forwards, uncharacteristically silent.

As she moved far ahead of the group, she soon found herself lost, and in front of a large house.

Moving towards the gates, she noticed two security guards.

"Maybe they'll give me directions!" she grinned, moving towards them.

She didn't expect however, for them to see her, in her upper class stolen dress, and assume she was a wealthy visitor, here to see the mistress of the house.

They escorted her in, frustratingly ignoring her protests (as they had decided she was just shy.)

And then she was left alone in the grand hallway of the house.

"um... hello?" she called out nervously.

Receiving no reply, she ventured further into the house.

As she explored she soon found a sitting room, which contained a rather comfy looking sofa.

She sat down in it, and soon, drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Um, hello there" a shy voice interrupted the dreams of the Blue haired mermaid.

"smerrrhhhhhh" Tsukimi groaned as she sat up rubbing her eyes.

A giggle made her look up in surprise at a girl about her age, with blonde hair and soft brown eyes.

"My name is Kaya" the girl said, holding out a hand to shake.

Tsukimi grinned at her widely "I'm Tsukimi!" she giggled as she shook the awaiting hand quite roughly.

Kaya grimaced in pain but didn't say anything.

Tsukimi smiled at her "I've never had any friends with blonde hair before!" she said as she stared Kaya's hair avidly.

Kaya blushed "we're friends? But we've only just met!" she stuttered nervously.

Tsukimi's grin grew wider "of course we are! Because I've decided I like you!"

Kaya's blush increased so she hung her head to hide it

"Um... I know this is rather sudden, but... would you like to eat lunch with me?" she asked the smaller Blue haired girl anxiously

"Well if you insist" Tsukimi winked cheekily.

Giggling, Kaya led them to the dining room.

A rather large room, filled almost to the walls, with a large antique table.

It was set for one, but Kaya soon sent a maid to make a new placement up, across from her, and they sat down to eat.

"This is the first time I've had a proper meal with someone other than Kurahadol since... since my parents died" the blonde told her softly.

Tsukimi looked at her sympathetically "at least you can remember them with happiness" she told the girl kindly before pouting "I can't even remember mine."

Kaya agreed, her smiled widening as she told her she'd never seen it that way before.

The girls made typical girly chat, about their families, homes and lives, Tsukimi throwing in the odd joke here and there, making the usually timid girl crack up laughing.

Their peaceful atmosphere was shattered as Kaya's butler Kurahadol burst into the room, and almost immediately glaring at Tsukimi with suspicion.

Kaya gave Tsukimi a small nudge under the table, and sent her a look telling her that she would handle this.

"Kurahadol!" the blonde girl said cheerfully "I was just having lunch with Lady Tsukimi, she's from couple of islands away, our parents knew each other, and since it's been such a long time since we've seen each other, they sent her over here to visit!" she finished her lie with a grin

Kurahadol's glare of suspicion soon smoothed over into a kind smile.

"ah, Lady Tsukimi, of course, I've heard so much about you from Kaya and her sadly deceased father" he lied quickly.

Holding in giggles, Tsukimi stood up, smoothed down her blue dress and curtseyed delicately.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance" she smiled as she brushed past him, well aware of his curious stare at her departing back.

Once both girls had exited earshot, they burst into giggles

"Ah lady Tsukimi" Tsukimi mimicked in a rubbish deep 'man' voice "I've heard so much about you"

Kaya burst into laughter again, and clutched at her aching sides

"Ah, you're too much Tsukimi" she giggled breathlessly.

"You didn't need to do that, you know..." Tsukimi said quietly, trailing her hand across the intricately painted walls.

"Do what?" Kaya asked bewildered by her sudden change in attitude.

"Protect me from him." Tsukimi muttered "I could have... done something..."

Kaya giggled again "don't worry about it!" she reassured the blue haired girl "It's what friends do!"

Tsukimi's eyes widened and she stared up at the blonde quietly before a giant grin broke out on her face.

"Besides," Kaya continued "this way, I can offer you a room for the night."

"Thank you!" Tsukimi cried, hugging the taller girl tightly "I won't be a burden I promise!"

Her eyes practically shined at the thought of a proper bed and even a bath for the night.

Making their way upstairs, Kaya led Tsukimi to an empty bedroom, decorated in pink and white.

It wasn't quite Tsukimi's style, but the queen sized bed, and on suite bathroom definitely made up for it.

Kaya steered her towards the bathroom, telling her that while her messy hair and grubby appearance could be explained away by her 'travelling' it would be difficult to explain why she was choosing on staying like that.

She ran a rose scented bath and climbed in, her legs transforming, but were completely hidden under the millions of bubbles that lined the surface of the bath water.

Kaya handed her dirty clothes to a maid and left; she promised she would be back later, with one of her older dresses for her to borrow.

Scrubbing away the weeks of accumulated dirt, Tsukimi surveyed the surrounding shelves.

They were filled to the brim with soaps, perfumes and hair products.

Tsukimi sighed; there was no way she'd be getting out of this without reeking of flowers.

She washed her hair repeatedly, eventually soothing it back into its straight and manageable form.

Climbing out of the tub, she grabbed an extremely fluffy towel and hand dried her tail until it disappeared back into her legs.

Wrapping the towel around her body she hesitantly made her way back into the bedroom, where she was promptly assaulted by Kaya and two maids.

She was forced into an uncomfortable corseted dress, with a hooped underskirt.

The dress itself fell to her knees and was deep blue in colour, the top half of the dress had a square neckline with puffed sleeves resting on her shoulders.

The maids then set to work on the bewildered girl's hair.

Twisting and tugging it up into an itchy side bun, they then held it in place with an expensive looking hair ornament.

Her makeup was quick and simple, only really a bit of blush and mascara.

Tsukimi looked in the mirror and gasped, genuinely shocked.

The girl... no woman, she saw before her was elegant, sophisticated and well... pretty...

"I wonder if this is what my mother looks like" Tsukimi muttered softly, stroking her reflection's face with the side of her hand.

A soft sigh was heard behind her and she spun round and hugged Kaya softly, not wanting to ruin anything about her new appearance.

"You look so beautiful" Kaya complimented smiling.

"Thank you," Tsukimi grinned "but it's all thanks to you! Um... but, now I'm feeling kinda light headed, is there anyway I could go get some air?"

Kaya agreed quickly, showing Tsukimi down to the back door and telling her to explore the gardens to her hearts content.

Opening the door, Tsukimi was amazed by the different sights and scenery, a large fountain was tinkling away and several flower beds, made the garden exquisite to look at.

Humming happily, Tsukimi skipped down the garden, stopping occasionally sniff or look at a flower more closely.

"Ah, Lady Tsukimi. How lovely you look, if I had known how beautiful you were under all that dirt I would have liked for you to visit sooner." Kurahadol spoke smoothly, snapping her out of her happy daze.

Tsukimi shivered, something didn't feel right here.

"Thank you" she forced out with a smile "It is a wonderful house, and a stunning garden. Perhaps I should have of visited sooner." She laughed

"Shall we walk?" he smiled charmingly at her.

And faced with no options or excuses, Tsukimi reluctantly took his arm and he led her around the garden.

As they turned round the side of the house, Tsukimi was greeted with the sight of her crew, three young boys; Usopp sat in a tree, and Kaya was leaning out her window towards him.

"You there. What do you think you're doing?" asked a sudden voice. Everyone turned to the source. Kurahadol.

The tall man in the black suit walked over suddenly.

"Kurahadol." whispered Kaya in a slightly frightened tone.

"Get out! I'll have you know this is criminal trespassing." said Kurahadol in a dangerous tone as he adjusted his glasses.

"Hey guys, who's he?" asked Luffy, completely oblivious to what was happening.

"Leave the premises this very second! Leave unless you have business with Me." said Kurahadol in a stern voice.

Luffy just gave a goofy grin.

"OK. Do you think you could get us a ship?" he asked.

"Certainly not! Usopp! You are well known around here, are you?" asked the servant suddenly.

Usopp nodded.

"Yeah. And that's _Captain_ Usopp to you!" yelled the skinny young man.

"Huh, is that so? You know, your father has a filthy reputation such as yours." sneered the butler.

"What did you say!" yelled Usopp angrily. Kurahadol looked indifferent.

"I am merely stating the truth. That father of yours, a simple-minded fool who left his home for the life of a disgusting criminal." he said.

Usopp jumped off the tree branch he was on and he glared at the servant with fire in his eyes.

"Don't you _dare_ insult my father, ever again!" he snapped.

Kurahadol smirked. "What are you getting so worked about? Why don't you tell another lie, Usopp? Like how your father is a travelling sales man. Or on how you aren't really related by blood-"

Kurahadol fell back with a bruised cheek as Usopp punched him in the face. Hard. Everyone gasped, surprised at the sniper's anger.

"Um... should we really be fighting?" Tsukimi asked softly, drawing everyone's attention towards her.

The butler sat up and glared. "My point is proven further. He's nothing more than man of violence. I guess the apple never falls farther from the tree, correct?"

He looked back to the blue haired girl and made a stop motion with his hand "stay there Lady Tsukimi, you don't know what this savage is capable of, heaven knows he takes after his father."

"SHUT UP!" yelled Usopp with white-hot anger.

Kurahadol flinched slightly.

"My father followed his heart and he took the life of risk and adventure! I'm proud to say that my old man is a proud warrior of the sea! I will admit that I do lie a lot but, I will _never_ lie about who he is! I will _never_be ashamed of my heritage! I am the son of the great Yasopp! Sniper of the Red-Haired Crew!" yelled Usopp to the sky. Everyone went silent for a moment, until Kurahadol chuckled darkly.

"Pirates are the brave warriors of the seas, are they? That's quite a twisted way of putting it. You are too foolish to see that you are proof of your father's savage blood. You tell lies twenty-four/seven and you suck up to the lady of the house for her fortune." taunted the older man.

"You're wrong!" yelled Usopp.

"Your father is a filthy, no-good pirate! Nothing more than the scum of the sea! And you're just the same!" yelled Kurahadol.

Usopp yelled and he grabbed the front of the butler's coat harshly.

"Please! Don't do that, Usopp! Kurahadol is just trying to protect me because my father left me in his care! Please, just no more violence!" begged Kaya from her window.

Usopp froze and he gave sigh.

"Fine. This is the last time you'll see Me." he snarled as he ran away.

A sudden anger filled through Luffy's veins and he glared at Kurahadol.

"You damn bastard!" he snarled as he ran to fight him when Zoro grabbed him in a tight hold.

"Damn it, Luffy! This isn't our battle! Quit butting in!" yelled the green-eyed swordsman as he held back the struggling pirate.

"God Damn it, Zoro! Let me go! I wanna kick this guy's ass into next week!" yelled the boy.

Tsukimi giggled softly, drawing Kurahadol's attention back to her.

"That didn't upset you too much did it Lady Tsukimi?" he asked, gently placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Tsukimi?" Luffy and Zoro asked, suddenly very interested in the aristocratic looking girl.

Luffy laughed "that can't be Tsukimi, she's way too pretty!"

Tsukimi's face darkened.

Zoro paled.

Tsukimi smirked, bursting out into a flood of fake tears, she stuttered out that the mean looking pirates were scaring her.

Kurahadol called over the security team and instructed them to remove the trespassers, roughly.

Tsukimi held back her giggles as they were led away, instead wiping away her 'tears' and smiling 'weakly'

"Oh thank you" she cooed softly "but that was just so scary, I think I'll have to go have a lie down."

Kurahadol agreed and led her to her room, where she burst out into peals of laughter once alone.

"Hah!" she muttered victoriously "they so deserved that!"

* * *

please review!, I'd love to have some help deciding who to pair Tsukimi with! :D


	6. Tsukimi's mistake

Hi again! Thank you so much for reviewing TWICE Kiyama Hiroto! And since you said you couldn't wait... you don't have to! (^o^)/ Hahaha, do you or anyone else reading this have any ideas as to who you'd like to see Tsukimi fall in love with? If you do, feel free to tell me in a review or PM!

* * *

Usopp starred at the never-ending horizon of the ocean at the cliff he met Luffy and the others at.

"Hi!" greeted Luffy as he suddenly appeared in front of Usopp, upside down; he was hanging by his knees on a tree branch.

"Whatcha doing?" asked the pirate captain.

"I came here to be alone, but I guess I can't, can I! What do you want! Did you follow me?" asked Usopp.

"Oh, you know, nothing." he said as he jumped off the tree and landed on his bottom.

Usopp sighed and he looked at his feet. "I can't believe that butler. Insulting my old man like that." he muttered.

Luffy absentmindedly clapped his feet together.

"Yeah, I hate the bastard, too. No matter what he says, Yasopp is an amazing pirate." he said.

Usopp grinned.

"Damn right. My father is a great man. And I respect him for taking the life of a pirate. Oh yeah, speaking of dads, where's yours? Is he a pirate, too?" asked the sharpshooter.

Luffy stared at the sky.

"I don't know. I never knew him or my mom." he said.

Usopp's grin faded and he looked at the ground.

"Oh, sorry for bringing it up." he apologized.

Luffy waved his hand and he removed his straw hat, staring at it fondly.

"It's cool. Even though I never knew them, I always had Shanks. He was like a dad to me. He treated me like I was his own son" he said as he looked at the inside of the hat

"And Tsukimi has always been there too, looking out for me..." he mumbled and soon found himself remembering another memory.

"_Hey, Hurry up Kimi-chan!" Luffy called with a goofy grin on his face._

_The two children were out playing in the forest and Tsukimi was lagging behind, tired and with her feet aching, she was moaning and complaining nonstop._

_But Luffy just carried on with a grin, waving away all Tsukimi's worries and complaints._

"_What if a bear comes and eats us!" Tsukimi fretted, anxiously tugging at her braided hair._

"_I'm stronger than a bear!" Luffy boasted, flexing his almost non existent arm muscles._

"_Yeah right..." Tsukimi deadpanned. Before scowling "I'm tired anyway, so go on by your self! I hope a bear __**does**__ eat you!" she said with a huff and sat down stubbornly._

"_You don't mean that!" Luffy laughed, walking back and crouching down in front of her, with his back to her._

"_What are you doing?" Tsukimi asked grumpily._

"_Giving you a piggyback you idiot!" Luffy laughed again._

"_I don't need your pity." Tsukimi said stubbornly, turning her nose up._

_Luffy grinned and turned around; he picked the girl up and threw her over his shoulder._

_Tsukimi gasped and let out a surprised scream_

"_What on earth do you think you're doing?" she yelled kicking and punching his back._

_Luffy just laughed and carried on walking, right into a bear's back._

_There was a tense silence as the bear turned around, Tsukimi broke it by almost yelling,_

"_Why'd we stop? What's going on?"_

"_There's a bear" Luffy told her helpfully, causing the blue haired child to scream._

_The bear lashed out at the two children, causing them to go flying back into a tree._

_Luffy spun them so that he absorbed most of the impact of landing, but unfortunately this also caused him to hit his head and become unconscious._

_Tsukimi rolled clumsily away and ran a short distance._

_The bear continued to advance on Luffy's prone unconscious form._

_Tsukimi gritted her teeth, picking up a small stone from the forest floor, she threw it at the bear with all her might._

_It hit the bear, causing it to turn and face her._

_Tsukimi smirked cockily, hiding her fears under the adrenaline coursing through her body._

"_Come and get me ugly." She challenged as spun away and started to run_

_And the bear gave chase._

_When Luffy regained consciousness, it was to see a blood coated Tsukimi leaning over him, smiling in relief._

_In her hands she clutched a sharpened rock, and a few feet away lay a now dead bear._

Luffy then placed Shanks' hat on his head again and said,

"So, are you ever gonna see that girl again?"

Usopp frowned."I don't know. Not until that butler at least apologizes about insulting my old man."

"You mean that one?" asked Luffy, pointing to the sudden appearance of Kurahadol and another man at the bottom of the cliff.

The other man had weird straight hair and heart-shaped sunglasses.

The two teens suddenly haired the conversation of the two men.

It turned out Kurahadol was the infamous pirate Captain Kuro.

He and the other man were plotting a raid of the village with Kuro's crew and they planned on murdering Kaya.

As Usopp began to panic, Luffy stood up and shouted;

"HEY, BAD GUYS! YOU BETTER STAY AWAY FROM THAT GIRL!"

Usopp fell back as Kurahadol and the other man spotted them.

The straight-haired man suddenly pulled out a silver ring with a string attached and he waved it back and fourth.

When he counted to three, Luffy suddenly fell forward and tumbled off the cliff.

Usopp gave a shout as the teenage boy tumbled the bottom of the cliff, looking as dead as a doornail.

Usopp yelled and he ran away, believing that Luffy was dead.

* * *

Back at Kaya's mansion Tsukimi was busy, trying to sneak out of the garden.

Finding a spot where vines climbed up the wall, she got to work and climbed up.

Jumping down on the other side she gave a little victory dance, climbing a wall in a fancy dress was tough work...

As she finished her little celebration, a cry from the Cliffside drew her attention, and without hesitation, she hiked up her skirts and sprinted towards the commotion.

* * *

"This is the place. Captain always hangs around here." said Carrot as he, his friends, and the two pirates made it to the place where Luffy and Usopp had been.

They looked all over the cliff, searching for the happy-go-lucky captain.

Nami suddenly screamed.

"LUFFY! OH MY GOD!" she shrieked.

Everyone looked where the red-head was looking and they all gasped.

At the bottom of the cliff, lying in a crumpled heap, was a very dead-looking Monkey D. Luffy.

It was at this point that Tsukimi arrived and as she saw the unmoving body of her captain, burst into tears with a panicked wail.

_'No… no… he can't be dead… I can't… This can't be happening__**again**__!'_ thought the Mermaid as her blood ran cold.

"GOD DAMN IT! NO! LUFFY!" she yelled as she ran forward and skidded down the rocky slope in her haste.

She ran over to her captain and only stopped when she was a foot away.

Tears slid down her face and she shook her head violently in denial.

Stumbling forwards the last few steps, she fell to her knees in front of him and clasped his warm hand.

Wait a second...

"Dead people are supposed to bed cold right?" she asked Nami slowly.

The distraught red-head simply nodded in agreement.

Tsukimi scowled and shook her idiot captain awake.

When Luffy woke up, he was once again greeted with the face of Tsukimi smiling in relief.

Her makeup had run, and with her tears was streaked down her face.

"I don't think that's how you're supposed to wear makeup..." he told her innocently.

Tsukimi burst into giggle "what, don't you like the sophisticated look on me?" she asked, doing an over the top pose.

Luffy looked at her, taking in her new dress and now calm and elegant hair.

In his honest opinion she always looked her best when her clothes weren't immaculate and her hair was wild and free.

That was when she always looked her happiest, and that was when, in Luffy's mind, she looked truly beautiful.

...'wait what?'... He thought suddenly confused with his thoughts towards his best friend.

Pushing it aside for now he simply shrugged and gave a typical male answer.

"I dunno..."

Tsukimi laughed and turned to the rest of their crew and Usopp's three friends.

"The Idiot's fine. What have I missed?" she asked cheerfully.

"Kurahadol is planning to kill Kaya." Luffy told her

Tsukimi's face darkened.

"Oh he is, is he?" she demanded "and who told you that? That liar Usopp? Well I don't believe him." She said flippantly before giving the rest of her crew a long hard look.

"Kaya and her employee's are all good, hardworking people. I trust her judgement. And so should you." She told them dangerously calm.

"But Tsukimi..." Luffy tried to cut in

"No Luffy!" she said sharply "I won't hear anything else said about it."

And with that she walked away, back to Kaya's estate.

Usopp's black-stoned bullets hit the men that were guarding Kaya.

He had tried to explain the heiress the situation but the young lady did not believe him.

She thought he was lying to her to get back at Kurahadol.

Usopp had managed to get Kaya out of her mansion and he had beaten some of the guards.

Usopp turned to Kaya and he held out his hand.

"Please, Kaya, this will all make sense tomorrow. We just have to get you out of here. Please, Ka-"

Usopp felt the stinging pain of Kaya's slap.

He looked at the girl in disbelief.

Kaya turned her head and she cried a bit.

"I'm sorry… but I don't believe you. What you're doing now... is pathetic." she whispered.

Usopp's eyes widened, not believing what he has hearing.

There was a sudden bang and Usopp felt and sharp pain hit his arm.

He held his now bleeding arm and he took one last look of Kaya and the butler who came to the lady's aid and he took off like a rocket.

The villagers had also found him somehow and they took after him.

Kaya continued to cry.

Tsukimi made it back to the house, and spent the rest of the evening comforting her distraught friend.

'_Usopp has gone too far_.' She thought darkly. _'And if she ever saw him anywhere near Kaya again. She'd kill him.'_

* * *

After Tsukimi had stormed off, Luffy explained to them everything he heard from Kuro and the strange man and their plot.

"No way! So a pirate crew is coming here tomorrow!" exclaimed Pepper.

Luffy gave a nod.

"Yep, exactly that." he said.

"No wonder Usopp ignored us when he passed us. He's probably gonna go warn the village." said Nami.

"Well, I know what we should do. Run!" yelled the Usopp pirates as they ran away as quickly as they could.

Luffy suddenly yelled out as well.

"Oh no! We have to stop the pirates or else they'll make the butcher of this town leave!" he yelled.

Nami face-palmed while Zoro whacked the onyx-eyed captain lightly on the back of his head.

"Moron, that's _not_ the problem we should be worried about." said Zoro. "Remember that Tsukimi is up in that mansion with this Kaya chick, she's at risk too!"

Luffy simply rubbed his head and grinned.

"_Do me a favour and leave! You're being quite meddlesome."_

"_Geez, sorry for intruding, miss. Meddling has become a habit of mine. But! It did help me save a whale one time!"_

"_A whale! Really!"_

"_Yep, that's the truth! And he had a sore throat, too! I checked it out for him but he thought I was food and-"_

A tear slid down Usopp's cheek as he remembered the fond memories he had with Kaya.

He had just managed to get away from the angry villagers and the sun was just beginning to set.

And truth be told, the young sniper always had a crush on Kaya, ever since they met.

He thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world.

He then shook his head, throwing his thoughts of love out of the way.

He winced as his grazed arm stung with pain. It bled more and Usopp knew it was getting infected.

"Hey, captain!"

"Hey! What's got ya down!"

Usopp's head shot up and he couldn't believe his eyes. Not at the sight of his crew or Nami and Zoro but, at the site of a smiling and waving Luffy.

Wasn't he dead?

Usopp ran straight toward them and he stared at Luffy with wide eyes.

"Hold on! You're alive!" he exclaimed.

Luffy blinked and he checked himself.

"Well, yeah. I'm breathing. And I had a good nap, too." he said smiling.

"Yeah. He was just sleeping, captain. But back to the matter at hand, we need to warn the people about the pirates!" exclaimed Onion.

Usopp suddenly frowned and he looked at the ground and his shoulders began to shake. He suddenly threw his head back and laughed.

"Man! I can't believe you guys fell for that!

But Kurahadol made me so mad, I just had to think about a lie as good as that one!" he laughed, faking tears of humor.

The Usopp Pirates frowned in disappointment.

"Sheesh, lying that far? Real nice. We thought you were better than that. Come on guys, lets go home." said Carrot as he and the two other boys walked back to the village.

Usopp stared at them sadly. Chalk up another lie.

Usopp clenched his teeth as Nami applied an antibiotic on his wound and tied gauze around his injury.

Those two, along with Zoro and Luffy, were by the bottom of the cliff. The same spot Luffy had fallen asleep.

"So… how come you lied to them? The kids, I mean." Asked Luffy as he sat next to Usopp.

The sniper stared at his tied-up wound.

"It's all I do. Besides, everyone else on this whole island knows I'm nothing but a liar. They would never believe a thing I say. Why would they?" he asked.

Zoro gave a firm look.

"Because what you said was the cold, hard truth. Actual pirates are coming and they'll lay waste to this town." He said.

"That doesn't matter. They wouldn't believe me anyway. But you know what?" asked Usopp, his head looking down and his shoulders shaking again.

"I-I don't care if they don't b-believe me. I'm gonna protect my village till m-my last breath. I care for e-e-everyone here and I won't let them die. Never!" yelled the slingshot-wielder as tears freely ran down his eyes.

Zoro gave a knowing smirk and he clenched his Katanas.

"You're a hell of a good guy to think about your 'crew' first while you have a strong enemy approaching." he said.

Nami gave a grin.

"Let me tell you this now, I get dibs on all the pirate treasure that's left behind." she said.

Luffy tipped his hat down and gave a teeth bearing look.

"So, you want some help, or what?" he asked seriously.

Usopp stared at them in bewilderment.

"You're… gonna help me? But why?" he asked.

Luffy flexed his fingers.

"Well, I bet there's gonna be a whole lot of pirates and, you're literally shaking in your boots." he said.

Usopp looked down at his feet and they were shaking like leaves.

"OK! Yeah, I'm a little afraid! These guys mean business and I bet they killed a lot of people! And hey! If you guys are just doing this out of pity-"

"Pity? Please, that word isn't even in my vocabulary." interrupted Zoro with a hard look.

Luffy's stare could easily rival his.

"You think we'd risk our lives out of _pity_? Think again." he said.

Usopp stared at the three of them and his eyes began to water again.

"You… guys…" he sniffled before nodding.

"OK. I already got a plan we could use." he said as he stood up and led the three to a slope.

"This is the only way the pirates can get to the village. The other ways are just nothing but cliffs. As long as we get them here, it won't matter how many there are, we can just beat them here on out."

Explained Usopp as they stood by the slope.

"Sounds good to me." said Luffy.

"OK, for this we need to rely on our strengths. So, what are yours?" asked Usopp to the three.

"I cut."(Zoro)

"I stretch."(Luffy)

"I steal."(Nami)

"I hide!"(Usopp)

"Well you better fight this time!" yelled Luffy, Nami, and Zoro simultaneously as they grabbed Usopp in a choke hold.

"OK! OK! I was only kidding!" said Usopp jokingly.

* * *

"OK, the oil is set. While those pesky pirates are slipping and sliding, we'll be beating the crap out of them. Yep, I'm a genius." said Usopp a few hours later.

It was already close to daybreak and the four had just spread tons of oil on the slope.

Luffy tested the slippery substance with his foot.

"I gotta say, Usopp, You sure know how to play dirty." he said.

Usopp crossed his arms proudly.

"Of course I know. There isn't anyone else in the world that could use a slingshot or play dirty like Me." he said.

Luffy smiled, briefly seeing Yasopp in Usopp's place for a second.

The winds suddenly began to blow harder and the sun broke over the horizon.

"Get ready." muttered Zoro as his hand rested on his Katanas. The three others waited with him. No one dare moved a muscle or even made a sound.

The village a few miles behind them was still asleep, not aware of the horrible events that were taking place today.

"Oh… no… They… could've gone the other way! I'm so stupid! There's another coast here!" yelled Usopp suddenly.

The three foreigners gasped and Luffy was the first to recover.

"What's the quickest way there!" he demanded.

"Straight North. You could get there in three minutes flat." said Usopp.

Luffy nodded and began sprinting with Usopp trailing with her.

Nami had followed them, for the sake of her treasure, while Zoro had accidentally slipped down the oil slop.

"Oh, come on!" he exclaimed in frustration.

As soon as they got near the other coast, Usopp had began shooting rock bullets at the rogue pirates, known as the Black Cat pirates.

All of them were, oddly enough, wearing black cat ears on their heads. All except one.

He was the same man that hypnotized Luffy.

"So, we meet again." said the man, known as Django.

Usopp slipped on his sniper goggles.

"I am the great Captain Usopp! Leave now or me and my men will finish you!" He yelled.

_'Shit! Where the heck is Luffy! He ran ahead of me! What am I gonna do! What I'm a gonna-'_

"GET YOUR DAMN PAWS OFF MY TREASURE!"

Nami suddenly appeared and she stood angrily with one of her three long polls.

She bashed Usopp on the head.

"Idiot! Don't let them take my hard-earned Berri!" she yelled. Usopp rubbed his head.

"Oww! They didn't even know about that cash! No need to hit me!" he yelled. Nami rolled her eyes.

"Ha, I just save your life, so be grateful." she said.

Usopp was about to counter when the two of them noticed the Black Cat Pirates were charging.

"Um, let's handle this later. Got any ideas?" asked Nami. Usopp reached into his satchel and he pulled out a bunch of caltrops.

Both he and Nami grinned and they threw the small sharp objects at the cat-eared wearing pirates.

The pirate ruffians yelped and yelled as the caltrops stabbed them hard.

Nami and Usopp high-fived with grins of satisfaction.

They soon came with another dilemma; they accidentally threw caltrops behind them and they were trapped!

"Damn it!" they both cursed.

A man suddenly appeared behind Usopp and he whacked him in the head with a giant mallet.

Usopp coughed up blood and he fell to the floor.

"Heh, nice try. But you kids can't beat us. Come on men, we can't keep Captain Kuro waiting."

Said the man as the he moved forward. Something suddenly caught his leg and he looked down.

Usopp clenched his teeth as he gripped the man's ankle.

"I will… I will _never_ let you in that village…" panted the sniper as he got back to his feet.

He swayed slightly and a trail of blood was running down the side of his head.

"All I ever did, was lie. Today… will be like every other. Because… because…" Usopp gave them a cold and angry glare.

"I won't let you reach that village!" he yelled.

The man merely smirked and he threw his mallet again, causing Usopp to fall again.

Nami tried to help him but the pirates knocked her back as well.

The pirates gave mighty battle cries and they stormed past the fallen fighters.

"Stay back… leave them alone… they are good people… leave them… just leave…" muttered Usopp as the pirates ignored his pleas.

Usopp's eyes closed as fresh tears came to his eyes.

"SSSSTTTTTOOOOOPPPPP!"

Usopp's eyes shot open as the many bodies of the Black Cat Pirates flew over him, their faces written with pure pain.

The sharpshooter gasped as he sat up, ignoring the throbbing and aching pain on his head.

His eyes widened as two people appeared. One was a meat-loving captain and the other was a three-sword-wielding man.

Luffy panted tiredly as Zoro tied his bandana around his head.

"Is that the best these bastards got?" asked Zoro as he pulled out his Katanas.

Luffy nodded in agreement and the two suddenly glared.

Luffy to Usopp while Zoro to Nami.

"THE NEXT TIME YOU BETRAY ME, I'M KICKING YOUR ASS!"

"USOPP, YOU MORON! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME WHICH WAY WAS NORTH!"

* * *

"AHH!" Kaya woke up with a start and she sat up in her bed.

"You're finally awake!" Tsukimi exclaimed, sat in a chair near the bed.

Kaya sweatdropped "were you watching me sleep?" she asked nervously

Tsukimi blushed "when you put it like that it sounds creepy," she muttered before smiling sympathetically "you had a tough day yesterday, so I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Kaya smiled and was about to respond when she let out a harsh cough.

Tsukimi frowned concerned "shall I get you a glass of water?"

Kaya pouted "I'm not completely incapable, we'll go get some together." She asserted to the blue haired girl.

Tsukimi smiled, waited for Kaya to put her slippers on. And then they left the room.

Kaya decided she'd find her favourite butler Merry and ask him to join them.

They checked the foyer, when Kaya suddenly gasped.

Merry lay on the floor, slashed at his chest and his own blood pooled around him.

Tsukimi's eyes widened at the sight of blood. And cursing her weakness, passed out.

"Merry!" exclaimed Kaya as she ran over to her servant and dropped to her knees.

She shook the sheep-like servant's unmoving body.

"Merry! Merry! Please, what's going on! Who did this to you! Please, don't die!" cried the blonde heiress.

Merry's body twitched and he turned his head to his mistress. Blood oozed from his mouth and he gave a concerned look.

"My lady, thank goodness you're alive." he whispered in a laboured voice.

He then turned his body and rolled onto his back with a grunt.

Tears rimmed Kaya's eyes.

"Merry. Please, tell me who did this to you." she said.

Merry clenched his teeth and he looked sadly at the brown-eyed girl.

"It-it was Kurahadol! He attacked me! He's a pirate, Miss!" choked out the servant.

Kaya gasped. Did that mean… everything Usopp had told her was the truth?

"It.. It can't be…" whispered Kaya in a shaky voice.

Merry clenched his jaw tightly.

"It is, my lady. Kurahadol only stayed as your butler because he only wanted your fortune. He waited three years for a day like this. A day where no one would be around to stop him. Miss, I beg of you, just give him what he wants. It's better than anyone getting hurt." begged Merry.

Kaya bit her lip before nodding in agreement. She knew what she had to do.

Gently slapping the unconscious face of Tsukimi until she woke up, she grabbed the blue haired girl's hand and marched up to her room where she had a gun hidden.

* * *

"KAAAHH!" yelled Zoro as the two Black Cat Pirates, known as the Meowban Brothers, scratched him at his chest with their large claws.

The scratches left Zoro with several wounds and the swordsman flew back, landing hard on the ground.

Zoro gritted his teeth and he stood back on his feet. He was left with only one Kantana.

"With Luffy knocked out, he doesn't stand a chance. He needs his other sword. It's the only way he can beat these freaks, Stay here!" commanded Nami as she ran down the slope at the two Katanas.

Before she even touched them, Django suddenly appeared and he sliced her in the shoulder blade with a large silver ring.

Nami gasped in pain as she fell to the floor.

Blood poured slowly out of her wound.

Django smirked and he looked up to the slope and he suddenly gave a yelp.

Standing a few yards away was Kurahadol, otherwise known as Captain Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates. With furious eyes, Kuro yelled into the air.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"

'_Oh god.'_was the only thing that went through everyone's mind. Things weren't looking up one bit.

* * *

Tsukimi cursed her own stubbornness as she ran with Kaya to the Cliffside.

If only she had stopped to listen to Luffy.

But no her own naivety and misguided hatred for Usopp had blinded and made her into a complete fool.

As she reached the cliff, she saw Kurahadol and anger clouded her vision.

Clenching her fists she ran forwards with a yell to punch him.

Grabbing her wrist in a swift movement, he had her at his mercy.

"Ah the beautiful Lady Tsukimi, it looks like there is more to you than what it seemed..." he muttered, looking at her vicious expression and the unladylike way she was behaving.

Tsukimi grinned "I fooled you then?" she laughed mockingly "It seems the deceiver had become the deceived."

Kurahadol smirked too "it seems we have more in common than we thought my dear." He said, pulling her closer to him.

"You're wrong" Tsukimi hissed "I'm no where near as insane as you. I bet even homicidal maniacs look at** you** in pity." And with that said, she spat in his face.

"You shouldn't have done that." Kurahadol smirked as he wiped it away slowly and lashed out with the long metallic claws attached to his glove.

* * *

Luffy couldn't believe what the heck was going on!

He had just woken up from his sudden sleep attack and had just witnessed one of the sickest and terrifying moments he ever thought possible.

Kuro was using some sort of technique, Shakushi, he believed it was called, and the attack seemed to kill and slash at everything in sight.

As he saw the men of the Black cat Pirates fall, he screamed to the sky,

"HAVE YOU NO HONOR! YOU'RE KILLING YOUR OWN CREW!"

Kuro suddenly appeared before him and he gave a smirk before appearing behind him.

"Tired yet?" he asked, his voice filled with dark question.

Kuro smirked and he flexed his long claws.

"Don't get cocky, runt, that was just a warm-up. The real battle begins now!" yelled the once-servant as he charged with his Shakushi.

Luffy surprised him when his arms and legs suddenly bonded around the clawed-man's upper-body, immobilizing him.

Luffy gave a monkey-like grin.

"Heh, nice try, ya jerk." he said cheekily.

"Get off me, you brat!" yelled Kuro in fury as he tried to shake the Devil Fruit User off him.

"This is a turn of events, huh? Three years of working for a kid and now you're being beaten by a kid. Talk about irony." said Luffy.

The injured Black Cat Pirates suddenly cheered on Luffy.

The onyx-eyed pirate clenched his jaw and threw his neck back, stretching it enough to reach the ruffians.

"Don't cheer me on, morons!" he yelled as his head snapped back and it smashed with Kuro's.

The once-captain gave a hard yell and he and Luffy flew back.

Luffy landed on the ground on all fours while Kuro lay at the ground, dead.

"Who are you!" yelled one of the Black Cat Pirates.

Luffy got to his feet and gave the men a serious look.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy." he said.

He then looked at Kuro and glared hard.

"The only time a pirate should abandon their name is when they die. I would never lose to a man who ditches his name, betrays his friends, and runs his life to the seas." he said in serious tone he hardly used.

He then grabbed Kuro by his neck and threw him to the pirates.

"NOW GET OUT OF HERE AND NEVER COME BACK!" he yelled.

The Black Cat Pirates yelled as they ran toward their boat, wanting to get the hell away from a pissed off Luffy.

Nami jogged over to her Captain, her shoulder injury not looking so bad as it had seemed.

Before she could say a word, Luffy fell forward.

Nami caught him quickly." Ya did good, Luffy." said the thief as she helped the pirate to the ground.

Luffy lay on his back and he stared at the never-ending sky.

"Say, Luffy. Why did you get so mad back there?" asked Nami as she sat by the pirate and she checked the kid's straw hat.

"I hate people like them. The kind of people who just abandon their friends get me so mad." muttered Luffy.

Nami sighed.

"Well, I'm sorry to say this but, not every pirate you're going to meet is going to be kind and thoughtful. You know that, right?" asked the navigator.

Luffy rubbed his stomach.

"Man, I want some meat." he said absentmindedly.

Nami bashed him on the head.

"Sheesh! Get serious for once, kid!" she yelled.

Luffy just shrugged and grinned, being completely oblivious.

Usopp and Zoro had shown up a few moments later after their small mission.

Django had kidnapped Kaya and he had forced her to sign a will. But, with the help of the sniper and samurai, the two saved the heiress with the help of the Usopp Pirates.

Zoro frowned as he looked at them.

"What happened to Tsukimi?" he asked slowly.

"Eh? Tsukimi was here?" Luffy asked excitedly jumping to his feet "where'd she go?"

"She got injured" Usopp remembered "I thought you would look after her.

They all blinked slowly as they processed this information.

Zoro was the first to react, sprinting to the top of the hill with worry.

He returned holding a small fragile looking body in his arms.

With her white (borrowed from Kaya) Nightgown on, and her blue hair gently falling around her face, she looked like a sleeping doll.

However if you looked closer, you'd see the large bloodstain that was spreading over her stomach.

Nami quickly tore off some material from the bottom of the nightdress and began bandaging it tightly.

Zoro and Usopp blushed as she lifted the nightdress up to get the girl's stomach, revealing the girl's underwear and bare legs.

They both turned away, but Luffy stared on with innocent curiosity before Zoro noticed, hit the boy over the head and spun him around.

Once Tsukimi was bandaged up and seemingly fine, she was still unconscious and so was handed back to Zoro to carry.

"Thanks a bunch, guys. I couldn't have done this without you." said Usopp.

Luffy cracked a grin.

"Our pleasure. It was a load of fun." he said.

The group laughed and Usopp sighed.

He looked to ocean and said,

"Now there's just one thing left to decide on."

Luffy cocked an eyebrow. What more was to be done?

* * *

Luffy picked his teeth with a fish bone as he finished his food.

He, Nami, and Zoro were at the restaurant Usopp had taken them to and they were just finishing lunch.

Usopp had said he had to do something.

"OK, we should get going now." said Zoro. Luffy and Nami nodded in agreement.

Luffy then waved to someone.

"Hi ya, little Misses!' he called. The Little Misses he was referring to were Kaya and Tsukimi as they walked over to their table.

"Hey guys!" Tsukimi greeted them cheerfully.

Kaya had taken to girl in after the incident with the Kuro Pirates, so that her private doctor could treat the girl.

Tsukimi was now as good as new, albeit a slightly more bandaged version of her usual self, but she was putting a brave face on and full of energy.

"Are you feeling well?" asked Nami.

Kaya nodded. "Yes, we both are, thank you for asking. You know, my sickness was due to the shock of losing my parents. But Usopp had helped me onto the road to recovery. And Tsukimi showed me that even though they're gone, I still hold them in my fond memories, you three as well. Please, I would love to give you a token of gratitude for all of your help. Please follow me." said Kaya.

All four pirates raised their eyebrows. What could it be?

"Holy-moly-guacamole!" exclaimed Luffy, his mouth as wide as his crewmates'.

Kaya had taken them to the coast where a giant Carrabelle ship was waiting for them.

"It's just- I mean, it's jus-wow!" exclaimed Nami.

"You're actually giving to us! No way! No way! No way!" exclaimed Luffy a he did as small happy-dance.

Kaya smiled along with Merry, who had recovered from his injuries.

"Please, accept it as a token of my gratitude." said Kaya.

"It's an old-style Carrabelle I designed myself. It has latten sails with a central sail ruder. It sails like a dream." said Merry as he smiled.

"What do you call it?" asked Zoro.

Merry smiled again. "The Going Merry. Now, allow me to explain how to handle it. First you-"

Luffy zoned out on him and he walked to the front of the ship. The figurehead was in the shape of a ram's head. With a smile, Luffy thought,_' Oh yeah, it's official. I call dibs on that awesome seat. I love it!'_

Tsukimi grinned jumping into the water, transforming and swimming a lap around the ship.

"Hey guys! It looks awesome from every side!" she cheered, doing a celebratory flip out of the water.

Kaya, Merry and Usopp gaped in shock.

"Ah, not this again..." Tsukimi pouted.

"M...m...mermaid!" Kaya exclaimed "you're a mermaid?"

"Um, I'm not sure actually" Tsukimi replied bashfully, scratching the back of her head.

A few explanations later, they were back to discussing the ship.

"We've loaded it with all you need for safe journeys." said Kaya.

Luffy gave a smile.

"Thank you. It leaves nothing to be tired." he said.

"You mean nothing to be _desired_." corrected Zoro.

The five suddenly heard yelled and they looked to the slope.

Usopp was rolling down it with a giant backpack on his back.

With raised eyebrows and foots, Luffy and Zoro stopped Usopp.

"Um… thanks guys." said Usopp as his head span.

"Anytime." said Luffy nonchalantly.

"So… you're going to leave, correct?" asked Kaya when she got alone with Usopp.

"Yeah, don't try to stop me, alright?" asked Usopp.

Kaya smiled softly and she nodded.

"I won't. Because I know you'll come back with more fantastic stories." she said. Usopp smiled back.

"Yeah, and that's the _real_ truth." he said with a laugh.

Kaya smiled again and she leaned forward and she gave Usopp a kiss on the cheek.

The sniper turned three shades of red and he began stuttering.

Kaya giggled at him. Before turning to Tsukimi who was stood up on the ship.

"I know I'm being selfish, but why don't you stay here with me?" she asked her new found friend

Tsukimi frowned apologetically "I wish I could, but I've got to find my parents, if... when I find them, I'm sure they'd want to meet you! And don't worry! I'll visit you all the time" she babbled smiling almost tearfully down at her.

Kaya smiled sadly "I thought you'd say that, so I took the liberty of stocking the going merry with enough fabric and materials to last you years."

"oh you didn't have to do that" Tsukimi blushed, unused to such generous gifts.

Kaya laughed softly "it's the least I could do... and I know how much sewing means to you..."

The girls exchanged a few more tearful goodbyes before Usopp turned to the four pirates, who were on the Going Merry.

"So long, guys! I'm taking off, too! I hope we meet again some day!" he called.

Luffy tilted his head in confusion.

"What are you talking about? We're friends so, you're coming with us, right?" he asked.

Usopp's jaw dropped before he cheered into the air.

"Yahoo! I'm finally gonna be a real pirate captain!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Usopp! _I'm _the captain!"

Everyone laughed as the five pirates began sailing away. Usopp waved at the Usopp Pirates, who were waving back from the cliffs.

As they sailed farther and farther away, something suddenly hit Luffy.

"Hey, Nami, why did Kaya kiss Usopp on the cheek?" he asked.

Nami blinked before giggling at her captain's simple-mindedness.

"She did it out of gratitude, Luffy. A lot of girls thank boys that way." she said.

Luffy tapped his fist to his hand.

"So, she was thanking him?" he asked.

Nami nodded.

Luffy smiled and he jogged over to Tsukimi

"Hey Tsukimi, kiss me." He demanded bluntly

"What the hell, moron!" she yelled, her cheeks turning as red as tomatoes.

Luffy gave a grin.

"that's how Nami says girls thank people, you should be thanking me for saving you all those times. You are gonna be my Pirate Queen after all" he said.

Tsukimi blushed harder and yelled in embarrassment as Nami turned to her questioning

"You're engaged to him?" she sighed day dreamingly.

"No!" Tsukimi squealed burning with embarrassment "he's just talking about some stupid promise we made as kids!" she protested, turning to Luffy "hear that you moron! I'm not gonna marry you!"

Luffy simply laughed it off

"a promise made as children, forged over the bonds of innocent love!" Nami cooed, fluttering around Tsukimi

This sent Tsukimi into a deeper blush and Luffy into another burst of laughter.

When he calmed down he then turned to Usopp.

"OK, Usopp. I want to know what's your dream and why." he said. Usopp looked to the sky.

"To be a proud warrior of the sea, that's my dream. You see, ever since my mom died a little after my dad left, I still respected him because he took on his dream. I want to be just like him. I hope I can also meet my old man some day, too." he said.

Luffy smiled and he took off somewhere else.

A little while later, he bought back five mugs of Sake.

"A toast! To our newest member! And to our ship, the Going Merry!" she cheered. Her crewmates smiled and they raised their mugs.

"To Usopp and the Going Merry!"

* * *

thank you for reading! and please review!


End file.
